December 2, 1915] 



NATURE 



373 



polar bodies of oogenesis as rudimentary gametes. 

 He set up the numerical law of the chromosomes, 

 and adduced cogent evidences in favour of the 

 persistence of their individuality from cell- 

 generation to cell-generation. He discovered the 

 turious "casting-out of chromatin" in Ascaris, 

 and some of his beautiful experiments relate to 

 the history of an organism destitute of maternal 

 attributes, due to the fertilisation of an egg- 

 fragment by one or two sperms. His cytological 

 memoirs, among the classics of the science, are 

 contained mainly in the six published parts of the 

 " Zellenstudien " (1887-1907), in Richard Hert- 

 wig's "Festschrift" (1910), and in the magnificent 

 monograph on the development of Ascaris, which 

 he contributed, as one of his pupils, to the 

 "Festschrift fur Kupffer " (1899). 



ADOLPHE G REINER. 

 \ DOLPHE GREINER, director-general of the 

 ^ John Cockerill Co., Seraing — the foremost 

 jiteelworks in Belgium and one founded by an 

 ^lishman of that name many years ago — and 

 isident of the Iron and Steel Institute, died at 



residence near Li^ge on November 20. 

 iMr. Greiner was born in Brussels in 1843 and 

 the eldest son of Gustave Greiner, private 

 :retary to King Leopold, the first King of the 

 Igians. Educated at the University of Li^ge 

 obtained the diploma of the School of Mines 

 1864, and shortly afterwards was elected to 

 post of engineer chemist to the Society 

 lonyme John Cockerill, which was the first 

 j1 manufacturing company on the Continent to 

 )pt the Bessemer process. Five years later he 

 is appointed manager of the steel works, and 

 1887 he became director-general, a position he 

 mtinued to fill until his death. He was respon- 

 sible for the introduction there of the basic pro- 

 cess for steel making, and was one of the earliest 

 promoters of the use of blast furnace and coke 

 oven gas for the direct driving of internal com- 

 bustion engines. 



Not only was he one of the most distinguished 

 figures in the industrial life of Belgium, but he 

 played an important part in the development of 

 the iron and steel industries of other countries. 

 Numerous honours were conferred on him during 

 his long career by the sovereigns of his own and 

 other countries. He had been president of all 

 the leading scientific Belgian societies, and as 

 president of the central committee of industrial 

 labour he had rendered important services to the 

 social welfare of Belgium. He joined the Iron 

 and Steel Institute in 1876, was a frequent 

 attendant at its meetings, served for many years 

 on the council, and was elected president in May, 

 1914. The year previous he had been awarded 

 the Bessemer Gold Medal. 



During the siege of Li^ge in August, 1914, 

 Mr. Greiner remained at his post continually, 

 encouraging with his unfailing spirit the members 

 of his staff and his workmen, and organised means 

 for the alleviation of distress among the large 

 NO. 2405, VOL. 96] 



population dependent on his company for employ- 

 ment. In the following months he set on foot 

 experknents in the heating of open-hearth fur- 

 naces by means of tar in order to overcome the 

 difficulty of the shortage of gas coal. His results 

 were presented to the Iron and Steel Institute in 

 a short paper in May of this year, and this last 

 contribution will remain as a record of his courage 

 and resource in the midst of many difficulties and 

 adversities. He was a man of large mind and 

 wide sympathies, and towards the members of 

 his staff and the thousands of operatives employed 

 at the works he occupied a kind of patriarchal 

 position, and was ever ready to help any of them 

 from the highest to the lowest with his advice 

 or benevolent assistance. 



ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF THE ROYAL 

 SOCIETY. 



THE anniversary meeting of the Royal Society 

 was held on Tuesday, November 30, when 

 the report of the council was presented and Sir 

 William Crookes delivered his presidential address, 

 extracts from which are subjoined. In the report 

 of the council particulars are given of the various 

 committees of the society concerned with scientific 

 problems connected with the war. We hope to 

 publish the main part of this account in another 

 issue, together with a description of the work 

 of other committees with like objects. Mean- 

 while, we give Sir William Crookes 's outline of 

 the Royal Society's activities in this direction. 



Towards the end of last year a war committee and 

 sub-committees were appointed to consider a variety 

 of questions, including the supply of drugs and other 

 chemicals which hitherto have been mostly imported. 

 It was finally decided that it would be best for the 

 council as a whole to act as a general war committee, 

 the original sub-committees being converted into four 

 sectional committees, which have met regularly 

 throughout the year. A memorial to the Prime Minis- 

 ter was drawn up, directing attention to the urgent 

 need for closer co-operation between those engaged 

 in scientific research and the directors of the nation's 

 industries, and was presented by delegates of the 

 Royal Society and the Chemical Society. The Presi- 

 dent of the Board of Education has since issued a 

 scheme for the organisation and development of scien- 

 tific and industrial research, which has met with 

 approval on all sides, and indicates that the Govern- 

 ment is ready to give the country a strong lead in the 

 way of recognition of the value of scientific training 

 and work. An important step has been taken in 

 appointing a committee to prepare a scheme for the 

 establishment of a permanent board in collaboration 

 with technical and other scientific societies for the dis- 

 cussion of questions in which joint action appears 

 desirable. 



Owing to unavoidable delay in printing, the Royal 

 Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers has pro- 

 gressed only slowly, and there appears to be no likeli- 

 hood of its being completed at the present rate until 

 the middle of iq2i. The director of the catalogue, Dr. 

 McLeod, who has been indefatigable in his labours, 

 has been obliged by ill-health to retire. It is proposed 

 not to appoint a new director, but to continue the 

 work under the able management of the chairman of 

 the Catalogue Committee, Prof. Silvanus Thompson. 



