January 26, 1922] 



NATURE 



"5 



sympathy must have been invaluable, and in spite 

 of internal dissensions in that expedition, Living- 

 stone afterwards wrote that he had never had any 

 difference with Kirk. Livingstone has borne warm 

 testimony to Kirk's untiring zeal, energy, and 

 ourage. He collected 4000 species of plants, in 

 .ildition to zoological specimens, making care- 

 ful studies of the economic products. In gratitude 

 for his help Livingstone named the western wall of 

 the Rift Valley along the Shire River and Lake 

 Xvasa. the Kirk Range. 



Kirk returned to East Africa in 1866 as physician 

 to the Consulate at Zanzibar. He was fortunately 

 soon entrusted with political work, and became Vice- 

 Consul in 1867 and Consul in 1873. In 1870 Said 

 Earghash succeeded to the Sultanate, and the 

 general impression of his character is summed up 

 in Kipling's " from Said Barghash in a tan- 

 trum," but he was never in that condition with 

 Kirk. Both men had a keen sense of humour, and 

 Kirk soon gained an immense influence over Said 

 Barghash, who was a loyal friend- When the 

 Sultan was visiting this country in 1875 he 

 threatened to return at once because he felt that 

 Kirk had been treated rudely by the Duke of Cam- 

 bridge. In 1873 the combined influence of Sir 

 Bartle Frere's mission and of Sir John Kirk secured 

 the abolition of the slave trade in the Dominion of 

 Zanzibar. Sir Frederick Lugard has testified to the 

 efficiency with which Kirk ensured the enforcement 

 of that edict by the Slave Court at Zanzibar, while 

 insisting on the missionaries taking no illegal pre- 

 mature steps in reference to domestic slavery. In 

 1877 the Sultan ofi^ered a British syndicate a lease 

 of his dominion on the mainland ; but the British 

 Government would not accept the offer, and it was 

 not until after Germany had secured the southern 

 part of those territories that a concession of the rest 

 was accepted, and the British East Africa Com- 

 pany founded to administer them. Kirk was one of 

 the founders and original directors to whom the 

 Royal Charter of that company was awarded. Its 

 ultimate failure was one of his most bitter dis- 

 appointments. The company was incorporated in 

 t888. and Sir John Kirk thenceforward lived in 

 England. He served for many years as fcjreign 

 secretary of the Geographical Society, which gave 

 him its Patron's Medal in 1882. He was elected 

 fellow of the Royal Society in 1887 ; he was also 

 a D.C.L. of Oxford and Sc.D. of Cambridge. 



Kirk's scientific work was mainly botanical. He 

 was a most indefatigable collector ; he described some 

 of his new plants, and wrote many articles for the 

 Kcw Bulletin and other scientific journals. His col- 

 lections have greatly enriched the Kew Herbarium, 

 id have been described as amongst the most impor- 

 nt materials for its " Flora of Tropical Africa." 

 His main interest was in economic botany. He 

 established at his own expense at Mbweni, near 

 Zanzibar, an experimental plantation of which the 

 results were of the highest value, and introduced 

 many trees and plants, and some of the extensive 

 eucalyptus plantations in East Africa came from 

 seeds raised from his trees. He wrote reports on 

 NO. 2726, VOL. 109] 



olive culture and bri fibresrone of "tRe valuable local 

 supplies of which comes from Sansevieria Kir kit. 



Kirk founded the East African trade in wild 

 rubber, the best of which came from Landolphia 

 Kirkii, and his name is also commemorated in many 

 other important East African plants. ^ He intro- 

 duced through Kew a considerable series of new 

 plants to British gardens. 



After his return to this country he was regarded, 

 until blindness lessened his usefulness, as one of 

 the most trustworthy referees from the Foreign Office 

 on African questions. In 1889-90 he was a pleni- 

 potentiary to the Brussels Conference, and for his 

 services there was made K.C.B. His K.C.M.G. 

 was awarded in 1881, and his G.C.M.G. in 1886. 

 He was Vice-Chairman of the Uganda Railway 

 Committee, and was sent to Nigeria t:o iiiquire into 

 the famous case of sacrificial cannibalism when 

 forty prisoners were eaten at Akassa. 



The beautiful little antelope, " Kirk's Gazelle " 

 {Madoqua Kirkii), will help to preserve his memory 

 among settlers in the lands he secured to the Empire. 

 To the explorers of that area Kirk was a friend 

 who will always be remembered with most sincere 

 affection and respect. 



Prof. J. H. Cotterill, F.R.S. 



On January 8 Prof. James Henry Cotterill died 

 at Parkstone, near Bournemouth. Prof. Cotterill 

 was the voungest son of the Rev. Joseph Cotterill, of 

 Blakeney, Norfolk. Educated at Brighton College, 

 he was afterwards apprenticed in the works of Sir 

 William Fairbaim, at Manchester. Later he went 

 to St. John's College, Cambridge, and took a fair 

 place in the mathematical tripos. In 1866 he 

 became lecturer and in 1870 vice-principal at the 

 Roval School of Naval Architecture and Marine 

 Engineering at South Kensington. In 1873 the 

 school was moved to Greenwich, and became part 

 of the Royal Naval College, in which Prof. Cotterill 

 was professor of applied mathematics until his re- 

 tirement in r897. He was elected hon. vice-presi- 

 dent of the Institution of Naval Architects in 1905. 



In 1806 a commission had recorded the opinion 

 that the highest officers then responsible for the 

 design and construction of vessels of the Royal Navy 

 were sadly ignorant of the theory of naval archi- 

 tecture, and, in fact, in the early nineteenth century 

 the best ships in the Navy were those captured or 

 copied from the French. In 1811 the first Admiralty 

 School of Naval Architecture was opened at Ports- 

 mouth for training expert advisers, under Dr. 

 Inman. It lasted twenty years, but trained only 

 fortv students, some of whom, like Isaac Watts, 

 chief constructor, attained distinction. In 1848 a 

 second school was opened at Portsmouth, under the 

 principalship of the Rev. Dr. Woolley, and entry 

 frcm the dockyard .schools was made dependent on 

 merit. It lasted only five years. Mr. E. J. Reed 

 (chief ccMistructor) and Mr. Barnaby (chief naval 

 architect) were among its students on whom devolved 

 the responsibility of the transition to ironclad con- 

 struction. Chiefly at the instance of the Institution 

 of Naval Architects, the third Admiralty school was 



