466 



NATURE 



[June 9, 192 1 



committee engaged in this work Prof. Rosa was 

 the active head, and its successful issue was due 

 in no small degree to his skill in overcoming the 

 technical difficulties of the task and to his tact in 

 dealing with the varied views of those engaged 

 in the research. 



The volume giving an account of these experi- 

 ments, published by the Bureau of Standards in 

 191 2, will form a fitting memorial of one who 

 for the last twenty years devoted himself un- 

 weariedly to the advancement of electrical science. 

 During the war he directed the development of i 

 a number of instruments of great ^use to the 

 American forces in France. Among these may be 

 mentioned a sound-ranging device and much radio 

 apparatus suitable specially for aircraft. He was 

 greatly instrumental in establishing the splendid < 

 radio laboratory at the bureau. Throughout his 

 life he was keenly interested in the prevention of 

 industrial accidents and in the provision of safety \ 

 standards for the guidance of public authorities. 

 The national electrical safety code at present in 

 use in the United States owes much to him. 

 His last work, now in the press, was an analysis 

 of the expenditure of the Government Depart- 

 ments, which contains a number of statistics of 

 great importance and interest. 



Prof. Rosa was married in 1894, and Mrs. 

 Rosa survives him ; she has the deep sympathy 

 of all those on this side of the Atlantic who knew 

 "her husband and appreciated his work. 



Miss Czaplicka's sudden death on May 20 cuts 

 short a brilliant career. Having studied geography 

 at Libau and Warsaw, she came with a research 

 scholarship to this country in 1910, and soon after 

 joined Somerville College, Oxford. She then 

 turned her attention to anthropology, and, after 

 taking the diploma in that subject, conceived the 

 bold project of an expedition to the almost un- 



known part of the Siberian tundra lying between 

 the Yenisei and Lena valleys — a project that was 

 carried out with brilliant success in the years 

 1914-15. It was in keeping with her spirit of 

 thoroughness, however, that by way of prepara- 

 tion she should first review the existing litera- 

 ture, mostly Russian, relating to this region, thus 

 producing "Aboriginal Siberia " (Clarendon Press, 

 1914), a book not only full of out-of-the-way in- 

 formation, but likewise showing interpretative 

 power of a high order. Her return from an ad- 

 venturous journey involving great privations was 

 marked by the appearance in 1916 of a popular 

 work, " My Siberian Year " ; but the full report 

 by herself and her colleague, Mr. H. Hall, of 

 the University of Pennsylvania, has not yet been 

 published. At Oxford Miss Czaplicka acted as lec- 

 turer in ethnology until the end of the war, when 

 she passed on to the University of Bristol to serve 

 in a like capacity under Prof. Fawcett. In the 

 meantime she found time to compose a valuable 

 monograph on " The Turks of Central Asia," as 

 well as to contribute many articles on the Siberian 

 tribes to Hastings's " Dictionary of Religion and 

 Ethics " — articles which might well be reprinted 

 together in book-form. This brief account must 

 suffice of the work of one whose intellectual energy 

 was on a par with her personal charm and lofty 

 spirit of self-devotion. Poland, so prolific of genius, 

 can count her among its best. In Oxford, London, 

 and Bristol alike she was the centre of a circle 

 of admiring friends, whose lasting regret it now 

 is that they did not somehow prevent the too 

 courageous spirit from fatally overtaxing the deli- 

 cate frame. R. R. M. 



We regret to announce the death, on May 31, 

 of Col. John Herschel, R.E., retired, F.R.S., 

 youngest son of the late Sir J. F, W. Herschel, 

 Bart., in his eighty-fourth year. 



Notes. 



The list of honours conferred on the occasion of the 

 King's birthday includes the following names of men 

 known to the world of science : — Knights : Prof. 

 Arthur Keith, Hunterian professor and conservator of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons; Dr. T. Lewis, hon. 

 ■consulting physician since April, 1918, to the Ministry 

 of Pensions; Dr. S. Russell- Wells, Vice-Chancellor of 

 the University of London ; Dr. F. Conway Dwyer, 

 ex-president of the College of Surgeons, Ireland ; Mr. 

 J. B. Harrison, Director and Government Analyst, 

 Department of Science and Agriculture, British 

 Guiana; and Brig. -Gen. D. J. McGavin, Director- 

 General of Medical Services in New Zealand. C.B. : 

 Mr. LI. S. Lloyd, Assistant Secretary to the Depart- 

 ment of Scientific and Industrial Research. K.C.I.E.: 

 Col. W. H. Willcox, late Medical Adviser to the Civil 

 Administration In Mesopotamia. CLE. : Dr. M. N. 

 Banerjee, Principal of Carmichael Medical College, 

 Belgatchia, Bengal. Companion Imperial Service 

 ■Order: Mr. G. J. Williams, Senior Inspector of 

 Mines, Mines Department. 



NO. 2693, VOL. 107] 



An interesting ceremony took place at the Cosmos 

 Club in Washington on Tuesday, May 10, when Mr. 

 Henry S. Wellcome presented Dr. F. B. Power with 

 a gold medal, specially struck to commemorate the 

 latter 's tenure of the directorship of the Wellcome 

 Chemical Research Laboratories in London from 

 their foundation in 1896 to 19 14, when for family 

 reasons he returned to the United States. During 

 ♦^hat period more than 170 papers were published from 

 the laboratories, mostly in the Transactions of the 

 Chemical Society. These papers deal chiefly with the 

 constituents of plants, more especially with those 

 plants used In medicine, and they form a notable con- 

 tribution to our knowledge of the chemistry of drugs 

 of vegetable origin. It will be remembered that in 

 1913 Dr. Power received the Hanbury medal, which 

 is bestowed periodically by a joint committee of the 

 Chemical, Linnean, and Pharmaceutical Societies in 

 recognition of specially meritorious research on drugs. 



A DISCOVERY In the Channel Islands of considerable 

 interest to archaeologists Is announced in the Times 



