August ii, 192 i] 



NATURE 



755 



since the beginning of the late war. The list is not, 

 however, complete, and may be supplemented later. 

 Short obituary notices of some of the men will be 

 found in the Geschdftliche Mitteilungen der Got- 

 tinger Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, 1918-19-20 

 (VVeidmannsche Buchhandlung, Berlin S.W.68, 

 Zimmerstr. 94) : — W. Lexis, mathematician and 

 statistician, August, 1914; W. Hittorf, physicist, 

 November, 1914; A. von Auwers, astronomer, 

 January, 1915; A. von Konen, geologist, May, 1915 ; 

 E. Riecke, physicist, June, 1915 ; P. Ehrlich, 

 physician, August, 1915 ; H. Solms-Laubach, 

 botanist, November, 1915 ; R. Dedekind, mathe- 

 matician, February, 1916; E. Mach, philosopher and 

 physicist, February, 1916; K. Schwarzschild, astro- 

 nomer. May, 1916; R. Helmert, mathematician and 

 physicist, June, 1917; A. von Baeyef, chemist, August, 

 1917; G. Frobenius, mathematician, August, 1917; 

 A. von Froriep, anatomist, October, 1917; H. 

 Vochting, botanist, November, 1917; C. Rabl, 

 anatomist, December, 1917; G. Cantor, mathe- 

 matician, January, 1918; L. Edinger, physician, 

 January, 1918; E. Hering, physiologist, January, 

 1918; F. Merkel, anatomist. May, 1919; S. Schwen- 

 dener, botanist, June, 1919; E. Fischer, chemist, July, 

 1919; H. Bruns, astronomer, 1919; Th. Reye, mathe- 

 matician, July, 1919; W. Voigt, physicist, December, 

 1919; P. Stackel, mathematician, December, 1919; 

 W. Pfeffer, botanist, January, 1920; O. Biitschli, 

 zoologist, February, 1920 ; and W. Forster, astronomer, 

 1920. J. Elster, physicist, and Joh. Thomae, mathe- 

 matician, have died recently. In addition to the above, 

 several other German men of science were referred to 

 in the obituary notice of Prof, von Waldeyer in Nature 

 of May 19, and news has also reached us of the fol- 

 lowing deaths not previously recorded in these 

 columns : — Prof. G. A. Schwalbe, Strassburg, on 

 April 23, 1916, age seventy-one years; and Prof. Karl 

 von Bardeleben, editor of the Anatotnischer Anzeiger, 

 on December 19, 1918, age sixty-nine years. 



The tendencv towards a more popular form of 

 official publications has been evident in recent annual 

 reports of H.M. Chief Inspector of Factories. The 

 report for 1920 is divided into twelve chapters dealing 

 with such matters as safety, dangerous trades, wel- 

 fare, lighting, etc., prefaced by an introductory 

 general section. The work of the Departmental Com- 

 mittee on Lighting in Factories and Workshops has 

 now been resumed, and the Committee is assisting 

 in the preparation of a pamphlet summarising the 

 chief essentials of industrial illumination. We ob- 

 serve that the scope of the Committee has been 

 somewhat restricted by the prevalent demand for 

 economy. We could wish that the demand was 

 applied with less severity to research of this descrip- 

 tion, in a field where much remains to be learned 

 and results of experiment may have great economic 

 value. It is, however, gratifying to observe that 

 the recognition of the value of good lighting is 

 increasing. One of the strangest facts mentioned in 

 this report is the habitual disregard, by some firms, 

 of natural illumination. Window-space is not in- 

 frequently cramped ; existing panes are found to be 

 NO. 2702, VOL. 107] 



broken and covered with sacking, or obscured by 

 paint, oil, or dirt. Seeing that daylight costs nothing,, 

 and, according to recent experiments in silk factories,, 

 leads to 10 per cent, better production than average 

 artificial lighting, this is evidently a direction in- 

 which a demand for economy might be justly 

 pressed and expenditure on publicity well repaid. 

 Another point commented upon in the report is the 

 need for protection of the eyes against the "flash 

 of arc-welding. Apparently exposure of a few seconds 

 may have ill effects, though fortunately cases of per- 

 manent injury seem to be rare. The cataract pre- 

 valent among glass workers is now believed to be due, 

 not to ultra-violet rays, but to the continual exposure 

 to intense heat. Suitable Crookes glasses would 

 afford protection, but it is difficult to induce workers 

 to make use of them. Here, as elsewhere, educa- 

 tional work, such as that conducted by the British 

 Industrial "Safety First" Association, is clearly 

 needed. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, at 

 seventy-nine years of age, of Prof. G. T. Ladd, Clark 

 professor of metaphysics and moral philosophy in 

 Yale University, founder of the American Psycho- 

 logical Association, and author of many impyortant 

 works on philosophy and psychology. 



Dr. Ja.mes Marchant, director of the National 

 Council for the Promotion of Race-Regeneration, has 

 been appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of 

 the British Empire. 



The council of the Society of Chemical Industry- 

 has decided to institute a Messel memorial lecture in 

 memory of Dr. Rudolph ]\Iessel. A gold medal with 

 an honorarium will be presented to the lecturer, and 

 for the present the remainder of the Income from the 

 bequest to the society will be allowed to accumulate. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal of 

 August 6 that the French Academy of Medicine has 

 elected the following foreign correspondants : — Sir 

 Robert Philip (Edinburgh), Sir Humphry RoUeston 

 and Sir D'Arcy Power (London), Dr. Brachet 

 (Brussels), Prof. Christiansen (Copenhagen), Prof. 

 I.. J. Henderson (Harvard L^niversity), Dr. Lucatello- 

 (Padua), Dr. Dominguez de Oliveira (Oporto), Dr. de 

 Quervain (Berne), and Dr. Soubbotitch (Belgrade). 



Dr. J. Charcot, the French polar explorer, sailing 

 in the North Atlantic in his exploring vessel, the 

 Pourqiioi Pas, has succeeded in landing upon the 

 islet of Rockall, which lies some 260 miles west of 

 the Hebrides and 185 miles from St. Kilda. Rockall 

 is a pinnacle about 75 ft. high rising from a shallow 

 bank which has more than once proved disastrous to 

 shipping. It has seldom been visited, and the Times 

 records only five authentic instances of landing 

 previous to Dr. Charcot. The interest of Dr. 

 Charcot's feat lies in the geological specimens which 

 he is reported to have obtained from the rock. 



It is announced by the Times that Mr, Edwin 

 Naulty, an American aviator, intends to attempt an 

 aeroplane flight across the North Pole next month. 

 He proposes to start from Point Barrow, in Alaska» 



