820 



NATURE 



[August 25, 192 1 



guished colleag-ue and former pupil of his, to 

 whom we are indebted for some of the facts re- 

 corded above, writes: "Je suis navre de la mort 

 de mon venere Maitre. .• . . II avait conquis les 

 sympathies de tous par son caract^re enjou6 et si 

 aimable, par son accueil charmant pour tous, les 

 g-rands comme les petits, les puissants comme les 

 faibles, par son exquise bienveillance. ... II 

 restera de lui le souvenir d'un savant 6rudit d'une 

 haute courtoisie. " 



A. T. Simmons. 

 Many science teachers and students will learn 

 with much regret that Mr. A. T. Simmons, in- 

 spector of secondary schools for the University of 

 London, and author of a number of widely used 

 text-books of science, died from pneumonia on 

 August 19, at fifty-six years of ag-e. Mr. Simmons 

 received his chief scientific training at the Royal 

 College of Science, London, in 1882-^7, and 

 during these years he and his fellow-student, Mr. 

 H. G. Wells, were almost inseparable. After 

 becoming an associate (physics) of the college, he 

 was for three years lecturer in physics, chemistry, 

 and other science subjects at the Southport Science 

 and Art Institute, and while occupying this post he 

 proceeded to work for the B.Sc. degree of the 

 University of London, graduating with first-class 

 honours in physical geography and geology in 

 1890. During the years 1891—97 he was science 

 and second master at Tettenhall College, near 

 Wolverhampton, where numerous students learned 

 to esteem his high character and teaching apti- 

 tude. He came to London in order to undertake 

 general editorial and advisory work for Messrs. 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd., in connection with 

 school manuals on scientific subjects, and was a 

 part-time member of the staff until his death. I*^ 

 association with Sir Richard Gregory, he founded 

 in 1899 the School World, published by Messrs. 

 Macmillan, and continued as joint-editor when 

 that mag-azine was incorporated with the Journal 

 of Education in 1918. 



By his many years of devoted service on these 

 periodicals, the sympathetic and helpful spirit in 

 which he carried out his duties as inspector of 

 science work in schools, and the assistance he 

 afforded to many authors of text-books, Mr. 

 Simmons won the highest regard from a large 

 circle of the educational world. His influence 

 upon the teaching of scientific subjects was strong 

 and far-reaching, and his death will be mourned 

 not only by his personal friends, but also by 

 numerous teachers and students familiar with his 

 books both at home and overseas. His person- 

 ality and his works will long be cherished in most 

 affectionate memory. 



News has reached us that one of the best 

 Russian zoologists. Prof. N. A. Cholodkovsky, 

 academician and professor emeritus in the 

 Academy of Medicine and at the Institute of 

 Forestry, died last April in Petrograd at sixty-one 

 years of age. Prof. Cholodkovsky was the 

 author of numerous works on entomology and 

 helminthology. One of his best works is a 

 " Monograph on Chermes Injurious to Coniferous 

 Trees," 1906. His excellent text-books on zoo- 

 logy are adopted in most Russian universities. 

 To the general public Prof. Cholodkovsky was 

 also known as a poet of high merit. To his pen 

 belong the best translations into Russian of 

 Shakespeare, Byron, Goethe, and others. For his 

 masterly translation of Goethe's "Faust," with 

 commentaries and a new criticism, he was 

 awarded the Grand Premium in Literature by the 

 Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. 



The death is announced, in Science of 

 Aug-ust 12, of Charles Barney Cory, curator of 

 zoology in the Field Museum of Natural History, 

 which occurred on July 29, at the age of sixty- 

 four years. Mr. Cory was one of the founders and 

 a past president of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union and a member of many learned societies, and 

 was widely known for his ornithological writings. 



Notes. 



The announcement appears in Science of August 12 

 that Prof. R. A. Millikan, of the University of 

 Chicago, has been appointed director of the new 

 Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics at the Cali- 

 fornia Institute of Technology, and chairman of the 

 executive council of the institute. An income of 

 95,000 dollars for the new laboratory' alone has been 

 promised by the institute, and additional funds avail- 

 able comprise sums of 200,000 dollars and 50,000 

 dollars, which have been promised by Dr. Norman 

 Bridge for the extension of the laboratory and its 

 library respectively. With this generous provision it 

 is hoped to create a large and effective laboratory 

 for research in physics. In conjunction with the 

 laboratory, the Southern California Edison Company 

 Is to erect an experimental station in the grounds 

 of the institute for th» investigation of the trans- 



NO. 2704, VOL. 107] 



mission of electric power at high potentials ; Prof. 

 Millikan will be partially responsible for the direction 

 of this station. The main problem, however, which 

 Prof. Millikan proposes to attack is the constitution 

 of matter and its relation lo the phenomena of radia- 

 tion, a task for which the new laboratory will provide 

 exceptional opportunities. It is also announced that 

 Prof. H. A. Lorentz, of the University of Leyden, 

 will be in residence at the institute during the winter 

 term as lecturer and research associate in order to 

 supplement the work of the mathematical physics de- 

 partment, and that Dr. C. G. Darwin, of Cambridge, 

 has been appointed professor of this department for 

 the academic year 1922-23. 



The council of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Radiology and Physiotherapy has 

 recently issued a statement warning the public against 



