7Z(> 



NATURE 



[February 3, 192 1 



well as the flax, wool, silk, and hides necessary 

 for their clothing;." 



These two latter works reveal Kropotkin's un- 

 bounded faith in man and his hope for a high 

 human destiny through the reconstruction of society 

 and communal production. His knowledge extended 

 over a wide scientific field, and his interest in its 

 advancement never failed. His many friends in 

 this country will long cherish his memory with 

 affection and esteem. 



Thk death occurred, on January i8, of Mr. 

 Rupert Farrant, at the age of thirty-six years. 

 Mr. Farrant was educated at the Westminster 

 Hospital, and he studied also at King's College and 

 St. Bartholomew's Hospitals; after he had qualified 

 as a practitioner in 1906, he held many resident 

 posts in various London hospitals. In 1909 he 

 was made a fellow of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, and on two occasions he delivered 

 Hunterian lectures at the college. Mr. Farrant 

 made a special study of the ductless glands, espe- 

 cially of the thyroid, in connection with the 



general metabolism of the body, and he put for- 

 ward a theory of a correlated cycle of changes 

 in the histological appearance and functional 

 activity of the gland under the influence of toxins. 

 He saw active service at Gallipoli, in Hgypt, in 

 Mesopotamia, and in France, where he received 

 injuries by a shell explosion, from the concussion 

 of which he never completely recovered. 



It is with deep regret that we learn of the 

 sudden death, on January 31, in his fiftieth year, 

 of Dr. J. C. Cain, editor of the Chemical Society's 

 publications since 1906, and author of leading 

 works on synthetic dyestuffs and intermediate 

 products. 



We much regret to announce the death, on 

 January 30, at sixty-five years of age, of Mr. 

 C. E. Fagan, secretary of the British Museum 

 (Natural History), to whose expected retirement 

 after a long period of devoted service reference 

 was made in our Notes columns on Januarv 13, 

 p. 638. 



Notes. 



The f<o1<l medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 has been awarded by the council to Prof. H. N. 

 Russell for his contributions to the study of stellar 

 evolution. It will be presented to Prof. Russell at 

 the annual general meeting to be held on Friday, 

 February 11, when the president of the society, Prof. 

 .\. Fowler, will deliver an address on the notable work 

 for which the award has been made. 



The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury have 

 appointed Sir Robert Robertson, K.B.E., F.R.S., 

 Director of Explosives Branch, Research Department, 

 Woolwich, to be Government Chemist in succession 

 to Sir J. J. Dobbie, who has retired. 



A MEMORIAL lecture on the life and work of the" 

 late Sir William Abney is to be delivered to the 

 Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain by Mr. 

 Chapman Jones. .'Vpril 26 next has been provisionally 

 fixed for the date. 



The council of the Chemical Society has arranged 

 to hold the anniversary dinner at the Hotel Cecil on 

 Thursday, March 17 (the day of the annual general 

 meeting), at 7 for 7.30 p.m., and to invite, as guests 

 of honour, the past-presidents who have attained their 

 jubilee as fellows of the society. 



Dr. W. R. G. Atkins, of Trinity College, Dublin, 

 has been appointed head of the department of general 

 physiology at the Plymouth Laboratory of the Marine 

 Biological Association. 



Sir Norman Moore, president of the Royal College 

 of Physicians, has appointed Dr. Herbert Spencer to 

 deliver the Harveian oration on St. Luke's Day 

 (October 18), and Dr. Michael Giabham, of Madeira, 

 to deliver the Bradshaw lecture in November. The 

 council has appointed Dr. Major Greenwood to 

 deliver the Milroy lectures in 1922. 

 NO. 2675, VOL. 106] 



A DISCUSSION on gravity at sea will be held in the 

 rooms of the Royal .Astronomical Society, Burlington 

 House, to-morrow, February 4, at 5 p.m. The chair 

 will be taken by Sir .\rthur Schuster. Prof. W. G. 

 Duffield will open the discussion, which will be con- 

 tinued by Sir S. G. Burrard, Dr. H. Jeffreys, Dr. 

 J. W. Evans, and Dr. A. Morley Davies. 



A SPECIAL joint meeting of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry and of the Institution of Mechanical En- 

 gineers will be held at the rooms of the institution, 

 Storey's Gate, Westminster, S.W.i, on Friday, March 4, 

 at 6 p.m., when M. Paul Kestner, president of the 

 Soci6t(5 de Chimie Industrielle, will read a. paper on 

 "The De-gassing and Purification of Boiler Feed- 

 water." 



.\i the meeting of the London Mathematical Society 

 to be held in the rooms of the Royal .Astronomical 

 Society at Burlington House, W i, on Thursday, 

 February 10, at 5 p.m., Prof. .\. S. Eddington will 

 deliver a lecture on "World Geometry." The lecture 

 will be concerned with the mathematical side of the 

 general theory of relativity, with especial reference to 

 electricity and gravitation and the work of Prof. H. 

 Weyl. Visitors from other societies will be welcome. 



In the issue of Nature for January 27 there ap- 

 peared an illustration (p. 699, Fig. 2) of a sculptured 

 group from the decoration of the building of the 

 Institute of Human Palaeontology in Paris. The 

 official description which was supplied with the 

 photograph stated, no doubt by inadvertence, that 

 the anthropoid forming part of the group was an 

 orang-utan. .\ close inspection, however, shows that 

 it is undoubtedly a gorilla. 



Science of January 14 announces that the Rocke- 

 feller Foundation has given to France complete con- 



