March io, 192 i] 



NATURE 



51 



We regret to announce the death of Sir 

 Charles Alexander Cameron on Sunday, Feb- 

 ruary 27, at Dublin. Sir Charles was born in 

 Dublin in 1830, and devoted most of his life- 

 time to the study of pubhc health in his birth- 

 place. He was a fellow of the Royal Colleges of 

 Physicians and Surgeons of Ireland, of the latter 

 of which he had been president, and he held a 

 number of diplomas from various public health 

 and sanitary institutions. From 1883-89 he was 

 president of the Royal Institute of Public Health, 

 and from 1893-94 he served as president of the 

 Society of Public Analysts. Sir Charles was also 

 a member of numerous foreign medical societies. 

 For more than half a century he had control of 

 the Public Health Department of Dublin Corpora- 

 tion, and had been public analyst for a large area 

 round Dublin since 1862. In 1902 he was the 

 recipient of the Harben gold medal. His publica- 

 tions afford a measure of the scope of his interests 

 in science. The best known of his books is prob- 

 ably "The History of the Royal College of Sur- 

 geons of Ireland," the last edition of which was 

 published in 1916. He was also the author of 



books on agricultural chemistry and stock- 

 feeding, as wdl as of numerous works and papers 

 dealing with public health and hygiene. He re- 

 ceived knighthood in 1885, and was created C.B. 

 in 1899. 



The death of Mr. James Keith on February 23. 

 is announced in Engineering for March 4, Mr. 

 Keith was the founder and managing director of 

 the firm of James Keith and Blackman, the well- 

 known heating and ventilating engineers, and 

 much of the apparatus manufactured by his firm- 

 was of his invention. He was an associate 

 member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and 

 a member of the Institution of Mechanical En- 

 gineers; he was also the author of numerous 

 publications and contributions to the technical 

 Press. Mr. Keith gave expert evidence in 1897 

 at the Board of Trade inquiry into the ventilation 

 of the London Underground Railways, and also 

 in 1903-4 before the Select Committee of the 

 House of Commons on the ventilation of the 

 Houses of Parliament. 



Notes. 



Prof. A. S. Eddington has been elected president 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society in succession to 

 Prof. A. Fowler. 



At the meeting of the Royal Society on May 5 the 

 Croonian lecture will be delivered by Dr. Henry Head 

 on "Release of Function in the Nervous System." 



The Principal Trustees of the British Museum have 

 appointed Mr. C. Tate Regan to be keeper of 

 zoology and Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith assistant secre- 

 tary at the Natural History Museum, South Kensing- 

 ton ; also Mr. Robert L. Hobson and Mr. Reginald A. 

 Smith deputy keepers in the department of British 

 and medieval antiquities. 



The Toronto correspondent of the Times announces 

 that a report by a Committee of the Dominion Privy 

 Council, approved by the Duke of Devonshire, the 

 Governor-General, expresses to Mr. Vilhjalmur 

 Stefansson " the thanks of the Government of Canada 

 in recognition and appreciation of your distinguished 

 services rendered to Canada in connection with your 

 explorations in the Arctic regions." 



The Radio Research Board of the Depart- 

 ment of Scientific and Industrial Research, 16 Old 

 Queen Street, S.W.i, is requiring workers of high 

 academic qualification for the purpose of undertaking 

 research work in wireless telegraphy. The yearly 

 remuneration offered is from 350?. to 550L In making 

 application for the positions candidates should give 

 particulars of any papers published by them in 

 scientific journals. 



The following were elected fellows of the Royal 



Society of Edinburgh at the ordinary meeting on 



March 7 : — Dr. Nelson Annandale, Mr. W. Arthur, 



Mr. B. B. Baker, Dr. Archibald Barr, Mr. J. Bartho. 



NO. 2680, VOL. 107] 



lomew, Mr. A. Bruce, Mr. Andrew Campbell, Dr. 

 Rasik Lai Datta, Dr. John Dougall, Dr. C. V. Drys- 

 dale, Mr. G. T. Forrest, Dr. W. Gibson, Dr. J.W. H. 

 Harrison, Mr. J. A. G. Lamb, the Rev. A. E. Laurie, 

 Mr. Neil M' Arthur, Mr. D. B. M'Quistan, Dr. T. M. 

 MacRobert, Dr. J. M'Whan, Mr. J. Mathieson, Sir 

 G. H. Pollard, Prof. E. B. Ross, the Right Hon. 

 J. P. Smith, Prof. N. K. Smith, and Dr. I. S. 

 Stewart. 



At a meeting of the Royal Dublin Society on 

 February 22, the president. Lord Rathdonnell, in the 

 chair, the Boyle medal of the society was awarded to- 

 Dr. George H. Pethybridge. In recommending Dr. 

 Pethybridge's name as that of a suitable recipient 

 of the Boyle medal, the science committee of the 

 Royal Dublin Society directed special attention to his 

 researches in the elucidation of the life-history of the 

 fungi which cause blight in potatoes, and to his dis- 

 covery of a process in the development of the sexual 

 organs of Phytophthora erythroseptica, Pethy., and 

 of P. infestans, Mont., until then unknown. 



The Geological Survey has just issued vol. xiv. of 

 its Special Reports on the Mineral Resources of 

 Great Britain, this being devoted to a description of 

 the fireclays; it thus forms a companion volume to 

 vol. vi,, in which the other refractory materials such 

 as ganister, etc., are described, and there is naturally 

 a certain amount of overlapping between these two. 

 The present report deals with the geology of the fire- 

 clays, and particularly with the available reserves 

 of this material; it is intended that the chemistry 

 of. the subject should be dealt with in a separate 

 volume, upon which Dr. J. W. Mellor is at present 

 engaged. This is the first time that any serious 

 attempt has been made to collect information uppn 

 this subject, the economic importance of which is- 



