542 



NATURE 



[December 22, 192 1 



pathy displayed by Lord Lindley towards every 

 effort to apply scientific methods in practical horti- 

 culture. This interest, too, is to be traced to his 

 early admiration of the labours of his father in this 

 field, though the continuance of that interest, in the 

 midst of his professional and judicial preoccupa- 

 tions, may have been strengthened by the inheritance 

 of Prof. Lindley 's proprietary rights in the Gar- 

 deners^ Chronicle. In the fortunes and the manage- 

 ment of that important journal Lord Lindley was to 

 the last keenly interested. 



In recognition of the estimation in which his 

 judicial eminence was held, the University of 

 Oxford conferred on Lord Lindley the degree 

 of D.C.L. ; the Universities of Cambridge and 

 Edinburgh both conferred on him that of 

 LL.D. After he became a Lord Justice of 

 Appeal his botanical friends, who were in a 

 position to estimate his scientific as contrasted with 

 his legal attainments, begged him to allow them to 



propose his name for election to the Royal Society. 

 To this proposal Lindley declined to agree, on the 

 ground that he was not a scientific worker and had 

 no claim to be regarded as a patron of science. But 

 the appointment of Lindley in 1897 to the Master- 

 ship of the Rolls gave the society an opportunity, 

 which it took early in the following year, of elect- 

 ing him P.R.S. under a statute which at that time 

 empowered them to do this in the case of any 

 member of the Privy Council, so that this distinc- 

 tion, too, at least in form, was academic rather 

 than scientific, though it was one worthily bestowed 

 whether on academic or on scientific grounds. 



We regret to announce the death on Saturday, 

 December 17, of Dr. T. A. Chapman at the age 

 of seventy-nine years. Dr. Chapman, who was the 

 author of numerous papers on entomology and other 

 branches of natural history, was elected a fellow of 

 the Royal Society in 1918. 



Notes. 



Those interested in bibliographical research will be 

 glad to learn that the proposals made in Nature of 

 June last (vol. 107, p. 449) for the compilation of a 

 Union List of Current Research Serials under the 

 direction of the British Museum authorities have not 

 fallen on barren ground. We trust that the appeal 

 from the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies, which 

 appears in our correspondence columns, will meet 

 with hearty and generous support from all copy- 

 right, State, and professional librarians, as well as 

 from the larger rate-supported libraries. The action 

 of the British Museum authorities in placing the 

 services of their staff at the disposal of British science 

 IS specially noteworthy, and is of good augury for the 

 future relations of literature and science. In one 

 respect the scheme now submitted is an improvement 

 upon our own, for the proposed list will include 

 serials in existence oh, or issued since, January i, 

 1900. This will link up the list with those prefixed 

 to the Subject Catalogues on Mathematics, Mechanics, 

 and Physics for 1800-1900 published by the Royal 

 Society. The existence of these lists should not be 

 overlooked in the compilation of the present one. 

 On the other hand, the proposal to include in the 

 new list serials not available for reference in the 

 United Kingdom may be thought of doubtful value 

 and practicability. A Union List for Germany is 

 already in existence, and a similar list for the United 

 States is in preparation. The circulation of a list of 

 these unrepresented periodicals through the research 

 libraries should, however, bring about a wider selec- 

 tion in the future purchasing of periodicals. We trust 

 that the most liberal interpretation will be placed upon 

 the phrase "scientific periodicals," and that all de- 

 partments of knowledge will be equally represented 

 in resf)ect of their research periodicals. On this and 

 other points intending subscribers will no doubt be 

 able to obtain further information, if desired, from 

 the Conjoint Board. 



NO. 2721, VOL. 108] 



The decision of the Electricity Commissioners on the 

 schemes submitted to them in June and July last for 

 re-organising the electricity supply in the London and 

 Home Counties district was published last week. The 

 Commissioners approve of the establishment of a joint 

 authority on practically the same lines as those sug- 

 gested by the London County Council, the local 

 authorities owning electricity undertakings, and most 

 of the principal supply companies. It will be remem- 

 bered that the evolution of the scheme was to be In 

 two stages. In the first stage, which ends at latest 

 in 1926, about twenty-four of the existing generating 

 stations were to be turned into sub-stations, receiving 

 their energy in bulk from the remaining stations, 

 which were to be linked together by interconnecting 

 cables. This prop>osal receives the sanction of the 

 Commissioners. In the second stage the original 

 proposal was to shut down an additional twenty-six 

 stations, leaving seventeen stations for generating the 

 electrical energy. Two of these were to be capital 

 stations, seven auxiliary stations, and the remaining 

 eight to be kept at work until it became practicable 

 to connect them with the others by transmission 

 mains. The Commissioners, however, do not ap- 

 prove of this proposal. Their investigations show 

 that it is more economical to build another super- 

 power station in 1926 than to go on developing the 

 stations which will then be in existence. To do this 

 will Involve less capital expenditure, and will reduce 

 the annual cost of supplying electricity to the authorised 

 distributors from i-isd. to o-98d. per unit. The new 

 station will be situated at Barking. Unfortunately, 

 members of the Committee of the Supply Companies 

 are raising objections to this proposal. They desire 

 that the whole of the financial control of .the joint 

 authority's work should be In the hands of those 

 members of that body who provide the necessary 

 capital. Seeing, however, that they obtain an exten- 

 sion of their tenure as distributors, it ought not to 



