January 20, 192 1 J 



NATURE 



669 



guished man took advantage of the opportunities, 

 then novel, for accurate and absolute electrical 

 measurement. 



Muirhead's great achievement was the invention 

 of the artificial line with distributed capacity, and 

 the consequent duplexing of submarine cables. 

 This he accomplished, in the first instance ai 

 Aden, with great and permanent success. 



After carrying on research work in his own 

 private laboratory, and perfecting the electrical 

 standards of capacity, which he practically estab- 

 lished and afterwards handed over to the National 

 Physical Laboratory, Muirhcad began instrument- 

 making at Elmers End, constructing especially 

 those beautifully designed instruments employed 

 in cable telegraphy. 



In 1894 Muirhead's attention was directed to 

 the possibility of practical telegraphy by means of 

 Hertzian waves, and he afterwards devoted his 

 attention to getting them recorded by a syphon- 

 recorder, with elimination of all disturbances, and 

 with accurate tuning. He communicated a joint 

 paper to the Royal Society on this subject (see 

 Proc. Roy. Soc., A, vol. Ixxxii., 1909, pp. 240- 



256). 



But in the early 'nineties a serious illness had 

 made Muirhead permanently lame, and his bodily 

 disabilities were such that only his pertinacious 

 and enthusiastic spirit enabled him to continue in 

 harness and to remain as mentally alert as ever. 

 He gave sound and helpful advice in connection 

 with the Pacific cable, and his judgment and ex- 

 perience and scientific caution, together with his 

 profound devotion to accuracy, were universally 

 respected. 



.Muirhead was elected a fellow of the Royal 

 .Society in 1904, but a few years later a slight 

 paralytic stroke added to the already formidable 

 incapacities which prevented him from taking his 

 true place among British men of science. By the 

 few who really knew him he was highly esteemed 

 and much beloved. OuvER Lodge. / 



.\\ excellent Colonial servant of the Empire 

 li.is passed away in the person of William 

 IIarkis, fiovernmcnt Botanist and Assistant 

 Director of Public (iardens in Jamaica. Mr. 

 Harris was born at Enniskillen on November 15, 

 rHfx), and after some years' exjjcricnce in garden- 

 ing was in 1879 taken on the staff at the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Kew. Two years later he was 

 .ippointed, on the Director's recommendation, to 

 f:ikc charge of King's House Garden, Jamaica, 

 Sir Daniel Morris then being Director of Public 

 r.acrdens and Plantation."!. In due course Mr. 

 Harris acted as superintendent in each of the 

 five gardens in that i.sland. On Mr. W. Fawcett's 

 rptircmcnt in 1908, Mr. Harris became Super- 

 intendent of the Public Gardens in the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture; in 1917 he was appointed 

 Government Botanist, and in 1920, a few months 

 lu-fore his death, he was promoted to be A.ssistant 

 Director. By his loss botanical exploration in 

 Jamaica has suffered greatly. He was an inde- 

 fatigable collector, and spent his ho1if!.Tv<; in thr 

 NO. 2673, VOL. 106] 



botanical exploration of every part of the island, 

 roughing it in the bush, with the most meagre 

 shelter for the night. Last year he suffered from 

 his throat, and went to Kansas City, where his 

 eldest son was living, to consult a specialist. The 

 disease was found to be cancer, and he died in 

 hospital on October 11, 1920. Mr. Harris had 

 been a fellow of the Linnean Society since 1899. 

 Botanically, he is commemorated by the genera 

 Harrisia, Britton (Cactaceae), and Harrisclla, 

 Fawc. and Rend. (Orchideas), and many species 

 have been named after him. 



Thk death occurred on l-riday, January 7, of 

 Mr. S. a. \'asey, who for twenty-eight years 

 directed the Lancet laboratory. Mr. Vasey was 

 born on March 9, 1866, and received his medical 

 education at Charing Cross Hospital Medical 

 School, but he was early attracted to chemistry, 

 and in 1883 became a fellow of the Chemical 

 Society, and assistant to Prof. Heaton at the 

 medical school. Prof. Heaton ivas at that time 

 also supervising the Lancet laboratory, so Mr. 

 Vasey joined him there as assistant, and on the 

 death of the former in 1893 he took entire charge. 

 His investigations covered an extraordinarily wide 

 field ; he undertook inquiries into the physics of 

 gas lighting and cooking, the standardisation of 

 disinfectants, the chemistry of natural waters, the 

 food value of oysters and the risks involved in 

 their breeding and supply, and many similar ques- 

 tions relating to public health. These topics will 

 be sufficient to indicate the extent of the work he 

 accomplished. Mr. V'asey was largely self -taught, 

 and he was remarkable for the natural and easy 

 way in which he applied the facts of science to 

 the most commonplace occurrences of life. By 

 his untimely death both the public health service 

 and our contemporary have lost an old and trusted 

 servant. 



The death has occurred of the veteran micro- 

 scopist, Mr. TiKiMAs Maltwood, in his ninety- 

 fourth year. Mr. Maltwood was a fellow of the 

 Royal Microscopical Society, and took an active 

 part in the proceedings of that society in the 

 middle of last century. He is best known as the 

 inventor in 1858 of the Maltwood finder, which 

 consists of a scale of vertical and horizontal lines 

 reproduced photographically upon a glass plate, 

 by reference to which the location of a particular 

 object or structure in a microscopic specimen may 

 be recorded. 



The death of Mr. Walter Pitt is announced 

 in Engineering for January 14. Mr. Pitt was 

 one of the leading authorities on harbour con- 

 struction plant, and was chairman of the firm of 

 Messrs. Stothert and Pitt, Ltd., of Bath. He 

 was born in 1853, and was a member of the In- 

 stitutions of Civil Engineers and Mechanical 

 Engineers; he served on the council of the latter 

 bodv from 1907 to 1917, and was chairman of 

 the institution's rrscTrrh rnmmitlee on wire ropes. 



