June 2, 192 1] 



NATURE 



433 



student Herbert McLeod, afterwards professor of 

 chemistry at the Coopers Hill College, with whom 

 he formed a life-long friendship. At that time the 

 only institution granting degrees in pure science 

 was London University, and Mills utilised his 

 education at the School of Mines with the inten- 

 tion of proceeding to such a degree at a later 

 period. He obtained his Bachelor of Science 

 degree in 1863 and the Doctorate in 1865, his name 

 appearing in the list of graduates at a date inter- 

 mediate between those of Prof. Crum Brown in 

 1862 and Sir Wm. Tilden in 1871. In 1861 he 

 went as an assistant to Dr. John Stenhouse, having 

 Tilden as one of his colleagues in that laboratory. 



In 1862 Mills was appointed one of the demon- 

 strators of chemistry in Glasgow University 

 under Prof. Thomas Anderson, his chief duty 

 being the conduct of tutorial classes in connection 

 with the medical curriculum. This particular duty 

 was by no means congenial to Mills, and his own 

 perfect knowledge of his subject made him some- 

 what impatient with the backwardness of the 

 majority of first-year medical students ; with 

 advanced students, however, and in the laboratory, 

 he was a good teacher. 



Anderson was then working on the products 

 from the destructive distillation of coal and shale, 

 and when not engaged in teaching duties Mills 

 assisted him in that work. This brought him in 

 contact with several people in Glasgow, notably 

 John Young and others, who were interested in 

 the oil industry, which at that time was attracting 

 considerable attention in the Lanarkshire and 

 Lothian districts. The friendships made in these 

 early days may have had some influence in induc- 

 ing Mills to return to Glasgow, as he did at a 

 later date, .but in 1865 he resigned his position as 

 demonstrator at the university and returned to 

 London. 



In 1870 Mr. John Young founded the " Young 

 Laboratory" in Anderson's College, Glasgow, a 

 laboratory intended by him to be associated essen- 

 tially with technical chemistry. The first super- 

 intendent of this laboratory was W. H. Perkin, 

 sen. (1870-71), followed by G. Bischof (1871-75); 

 they were succeeded by Mills in 1876. 



About 1886 the " Young Laboratory " together 

 with Anderson's College was incorporated in the 

 Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, 

 and became the " Young Chair of Technical 

 Chemistry." This appointment Mills held until his 

 resignation in 1891. 



Papers recording Mills's original work are pub- 

 lished in the proceedings of the Royal Societies 

 of London and Edinburgh, the Philosophical 

 Maignzine, and the journals of the Chemical 

 Society and the Society of Chemical Industry in 

 London. They are numerous and of a varied nature. 

 His first paper, given to the Royal Society in 

 i860, was on bromo- and chloro-phenyl, but his 

 early work dealt more with questions on the 

 general principles of chemistry and inorganic 

 chemistry, such as isomerism, electric attraction, 

 chemical mass, and chemical equivalents. In the 



NO. 2692, VOL. 107] 



Journal of the Chemical Society he published 

 papers on aniline derivatives and nitrotoluene, 

 potable waters, chemical repulsion, and melting 

 points. From 1879-82 he published in four parts 

 "Researches on Chemical Equivalents," "In- 

 vestigations on the Action of Oxides on Salts," 

 and in conjunction with Mr. Louis Campbell about 

 1879 " Researches on Dyeing." At a later period, 

 on the foundation of the Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry, he gave to that society papers on the 

 quantitative estimation of oils and fats, viscosity 

 determinations, and the oxidation of aniline. In the 

 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 

 he published researches on thermochemistry. 



In the four small works which he published 

 Mills did not confine himself to purely scientific 

 subjects; in addition to two books, "Fuel 

 and its Applications," in conjunction with E. J. 

 Rowan, and " Destructive Distillation," he wrote 

 a volume of poems, " My only Child," published 

 in 1895, and "The Secret of Petrarch" in 1904. 



After retiring from the professorship at the 

 Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College 

 Mills returned to London, where he occupied him- 

 self with various pursuits, among them photo- 

 graphy, which he had practised with considerable 

 skill from early days. A certain deafness which 

 overcame him during later years tended to in- 

 crease a reserve of manner which Mills always 

 possessed, but he continued until a short time ago 

 to attend the meetings of the various societies to 

 which he belonged, and was to be found regu- 

 larly once a week at the Athenaeum Club, where 

 he met his more particular friends. He had a 

 good knowledge not only of scientific, but also of 

 general literature, and held some distinct views 

 on religious questions ; these, however, he never 

 discussed. 



Mills was elected a fellow of the Royal Society 

 of London in 1874. He became a fellow of the 

 Chemical Society in 1862, serving several times on 

 the council, and as a vice-president from 191 2 to 

 191 5. He was an original member of the Society 

 of Chemical Industry, and for a period president 

 of the Glasgow and West of Scotland section of 

 that society. He received the honorary degree of 

 LL.D. from the University of Glasgow. 



J. M. T. 



Dr. George Frederick Wright, who died 

 recently at the age of eighty-three years from 

 heart failure following influenza, was, from 1881 

 to 1907, a professor in the Oberlin Theological 

 Seminary, Ohio, and had been since 1884 the 

 editor of a well-known theological publication, 

 " Bibliotheca Sacra." His most important work, 

 however, was done as a geologist, and his " Ice 

 Age in North America," first published in 1889, 

 remains a standard work on the subject. He 

 wrote also on "The Glacial Boundary in 

 Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky," "Man and 

 thcj Glacial Period," and "Greenland Ice- 

 fields." At the invitation of the late Tsar 

 of Russia Dr. Wright visited Siberia for 



