Z7^ 



NATURE 



[December 2, 1915. 



At the request of General Sir O 'Moore Creagh, 

 military adviser to the Central Association Volunteer 

 Training Corps, an Engineer Volunteer Corps has 

 been formed to meet the needs of members of the 

 engineering profession who, by reason of age, physique, 

 or employment on Government work, are prevented 

 from joining the Regular or Territorial Forces. The 

 official regulations of the association say that the 

 policy of the Government is to encourage every man to 

 take his part in the present struggle; and they advise 

 all who are debarred by the reasons mentioned above 

 to join a Volunteer Corps, so that their services may 

 be available as a trained man in case of invasion. 

 All men with engineering experience should join an 

 engineer corps, where they can be trained in military 

 engineering, especially field and fortress work (includ- 

 ing telegraphs, searchlights, etc., in addition to in- 

 fantry drill, musketry, etc.). Such a training, com- 

 bined with the experience which they have gained 

 in civil life, will render them invaluable to the authori- 

 ties at a time of emergency. The Engineering Insti- 

 tutions Volunteer Engineer Corps gives such a train- 

 ing; and although the corps has not been in existence 

 six months, a number of men are already proficient 

 in searchlight work, and available In case of need. 

 Sir John Snell is hon. commandant of the corps, and 

 the general committee contains many prominent mem- 

 bers of the engineering profession. The headquarters 

 of the corps are at Chester House, Eccleston Place, 

 S.W., but full information may be obtamed from 

 Lieut.-Colonel C. B. Clay, Marconi House, Strand, 

 W.C. 



The death of Sir Allen Young, C.B., announced in 

 the Times of November 20, removes one of the last 

 survivors of the Franklin search expeditions. In his 

 early days Allen Young entered the mercantile marine 

 and commanded a troopship in the Crimean War. 

 When Lady Franklin in 1857 organised an expedition 

 to follow up Dr. John Rae's discoveries concerning 

 the fate of her husband and his expedition, Allen 

 Young was appointed master of the Fax, under 

 Captain (afterwards Sir Leopold) McClintock. Young 

 contributed largely to the finances of the expedition, 

 and refused any remuneration for his services. On 

 this expedition Young accomplished Important work. 

 In a long sledge journey he completed the discovery 

 of Prince of Wales Island, and the west coast of 

 North Somerset. He found McClintock Channel 

 blocked with heavy Ice and unnavigable, and pointed 

 to Franklin Channel as the route of the north-west 

 passage.-. Amundsen has since proved the truth of this 

 contention. In 1875, in his steam yacht Pandora, 

 Young led an expedition to Lancaster Sound and 

 Bellof Strait, and in 1876 to Smith Sound. In 1882 

 he led the Leigh Smith search expedition in the Hope. 

 Among other services, Young took part, in i860, in the 

 survey of the proposed North Atlantic telegraph route 

 from the Faroes by Iceland and Greenland to Labra- 

 dor. Sir Allen Young, who was knighted in 1877, 

 was born at Twickenham eighty-five years ago. He 

 was a younger brother of Trinity House, and a former 

 member of the council of the Royal Geographical 

 Society. 



NO. 2405, VOL. 96] 



By the death of Dr. James Holms Pollok on Friday 

 last, November 26, Ireland has lost a very earnest and 

 able scientific worker. Dr. Pollok was for many years 

 on the staff of the Royal College of Science for Ireland, 

 in the chemical department of which he was lecturer 

 on physical and metallurgical chemistry. He had 

 achieved a well-earned reputation as an industrial 

 chemist, and was ever alert for new openings in the 

 applications of chemistry which might benefit this 

 country. Workers in science will remember that he 

 was honourably associated with the late Sir Walter 

 Hartley in researches in spectroscopic analysis — work 

 that he continued after the death of that investigator. 

 As a result of working with vacuum tubes, he suffered 

 for some months from a very painful form of eczema 

 (ultra-violet light dermatitis), induced by the rays 

 emitted from these tubes. On the outbreak of war he 

 devoted himself to the services of the common cause, 

 and in time organised the Royal College of S'cience 

 Voluntary Aid Detachment, and with this detach- 

 ment, of which he was quartermaster, he per- 

 formed very valuable services on the several occa- 

 sions on which wounded soldiers have been landed In 

 Dublin. Dr. Pollok 's published contributions to chem- 

 istry and spectroscopy are represented by twelve 

 papers communicated to the Chemical Society and the 

 Royal Dublin Society. The chemical papers deal with 

 a study of gluclnum and its compounds, the analysis 

 of Irish kleselguhr and the separation of rare earths. 

 His spectroscopic researches were devoted to an exam- 

 ination of the spark and vacuum tube spectra of the 

 rare and common metals, and to the utilisation of these 

 spectra in quantitative analysis. His loss will be 

 deeply felt by the Department of Agriculture and Tech- 

 nical Instruction and by the Royal College of Science 

 for Ireland, where he was held in great esteem and 

 affection by his colleagues and students. He leaves a 

 widow and two daughters to mourn his loss. 



At the monthly general meeting of the Zoological 

 Society of London, held on November 17, the report 

 of the council for the months of August, Sep- 

 tember, and October was read. Herein it was stated 

 that during these months 406 additions had been 

 made to the society's menagerie. Some of these were 

 of exceptional interest. Special mention may be made 

 to the entries for September, which Included a tiger- 

 bittern {Tigrosoma salmoni), ten Wilson's birds of 

 paradise {Schlegelia wilsoni), ten red birds of paradise 

 {Paradisea rubra), and one black manucode {Manu- 

 codia atra). The attendance at the gardens during 

 the months covering this report was most gratifying, 

 since no fewer than 436,733 passed the turnstiles, 

 being an increase of 128,907 over the corresponding 

 period of last year. 



An address by Mr. C. P. Lounsbury, on " Some 

 Phases of the Locust Problem," delivered before the 

 South African Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, is published in the South African Journal of 

 Science for September. From this It Is apparent that 

 "the Union is entering upon a cycle of years when 

 swarms of locusts will be widespread and destructive." 

 The invading hosts have in the past been made up 

 of two distinct species — the brown locust {Locusta 



