84 



NATURE 



[January 19, 1922 



interest is contagious, and so he firmly established 

 the Hanovv Scientific Society, as he had helped 

 to found the Junior Scientific Society at Oxford. 

 Though a chemist by training — he was a fellow of 

 the Chemical Society — his activities were at least 

 as wide as those of the British Association, of which 

 he was a keen supporter. His knowledge of 

 palaeontology and of archaeology was deep. Few 

 indeed were the branches of learning along which 

 he could not guide a young inquirer, so he ful- 

 filled perfectly the offices of librarian and curator 

 of the school museum. The municipal life of his 

 adopted town and county owe much to Mr. 

 Lascelles, whose many friends will ever remember 

 his genial personality with gratitude. 



Prof. W. Foord-Kelcey, professor of mathe- 

 matics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 

 since 1903, died on January 3 at the age of sixty- 

 seven. He was a scholar of Exeter College, 

 Oxford, and obtained a First Class in the Final 

 Mathematical School in 1877. He joined the Royal 

 Military Academy as instructor in mathematics in 

 1878; later he was called to the Bar, and for a 

 time combined legal work with teaching, but 

 eventually gave up the former. Altogether, Prof. 

 Foord-Kelcey was at the Academy for forty-three 

 and a half years, and nearly all serving gunner and 

 sapper officers knew him. He was a man of great 

 ability with brain, hand, and eye, being a first-rate 

 practical mechanic. He had a wide knowledge of 

 mechanism, and retained his interest in the teach- 

 ing of mechanics to the last. He was due to retire 



in the summer of this year, and in him the Royal 

 Military Academy has lost a great personality. 



Father Giuseppe Lais, S.J., whose death in 

 Rome was recently announced, was born in Rome in 

 1845, He was the author of a very long series of 

 papers dealing with meteorology, both mediaeval and 

 modern, solar eclipses, comets and meteors, and 

 astronomical photography. He published some little- 

 known meteorological records of the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries. He took a deep interest in 

 the astrographic chart, and published researches on 

 the best methods of measuring and developing the 

 plates. As vice-director of the Vatican Observatory 

 since 1903 he has had a large share in taking the 

 plates of the zone allotted to that observatory. He 

 was also interested in the question of calendar re- 

 form, publishing papers on this subject in 1892 

 and 1 90 1. Father Lais was for many years vice- 

 secretary of the Accademia dei Nuovi Lincei, Rome. 



We regret to announce the death on January 15, 

 in his ninetieth year, of Sir John Kirk, G.C.M.G., 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., chief officer and naturalist of 

 Livingstone's expedition to the Zambezi in 1858-63, 

 during which he made large collections and many 

 observations of great scientific value. He was the 

 author of numerous contributions to the botany, 

 zoology, and geography of Eastern tropical Africa. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death 

 on January 8, at eighty-six years of age, of Prof. 

 J. H. CoTTERiLL, F.R.S., formerly professor of 

 applied mechanics. Royal Naval College, Greenwich. 



Notes. 



The gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 has been awarded to Dr. J. H. Jeans for his con- 

 tributions to theories of cosmogony. 



M. Raymond Poincar6, who has succeeded M. 

 Briand as Prime Minister of France, held that oflfice 

 in the years 1911-13, and was President of the French 

 Repyublic in 1913-20. He is a brother of M. Lucien 

 Poincar^, the distinguished official head of the Uni- 

 versity of Paris, who died nearly two years ago, and 

 a cousin of the great mathematician and philosopher, 

 Prof. Henri Poincar^, who died in 1912. In 1914 

 M. Polncar^ was elected Lord Rector of the Univer- 

 sity of Glasgow, and in November, 19 19, he delivered 

 an inspiring address on Franco-Scottish unity to an 

 assembly of four thousand students and other members 

 and friends of the University. 



The Strangers' Hall, Norwich, an interesting old 

 city merchant's house, with groined undercroft, 

 fifteenth-century banqueting hall, and other panelled 

 rooms of later date, has been offered by its owner, 

 Mr. Leonard G. Bolingbroke, to the Corporation of 

 Norwich for the purpose of an English Folk and 

 Historical Museum, in conjunction with the Norwich 

 •Castle Museum. Mr. Bolingbroke has also offered 

 NO. 2725, VOL. 109] 



his collection of old domestic appliances and other 

 " bygones " illustrative of the various phases of a 

 middle-class Englishman's home during the last four 

 or five centuries, which will find a fitting environment 

 in the various rooms of the house. While the aim 

 of the museum will be historical rather than scientific, 

 there will be found many exhibits of interest to 

 students of the early history and development of such 

 subjects as the production of light and fire, domestic 

 cookery, and other kindred objects. 



The annual meeting of the Institute of Metals will 

 be held in London on March 8-9, when ten important 

 papers are to be presented for discussion. The 

 annual May lecture will be delivered on May 3 by 

 Sir Ernest Rutherford on "The Relation of the 

 Elements." The autumn meeting will be held at 

 Swansea on September 20-22. A large gathering is 

 expected in this important metallurgical centre, and 

 the Mayor and corporation have extended a very hearty 

 invitation to members of the institute. Last year 

 the membership of the institute increased from 1298 to 

 1410 — a record year's growth. Such an increase, 

 occuring during a year of great trade depression, 

 indicates that makers and users of non-ferrous metals 

 and alloys are on the alert to take advantage of the 



