542 



NATURE 



[January 13, 19 16 



Perhaps the most important of all his work was 

 that on fossil botany. Solms was an intimate 

 friend of Williamson's, and appreciated his writ- 

 ings and his collection as no one else did at the 

 time. He wrote the obituary notice of William- 

 son, published in Nature for September 5, 1905, 

 a worthy tribute to his old friend's work. 



Solms's "Einleitung: in die Palaophytologie," 

 published in 1887 and translated for the Oxford 

 Press in 1892, was of the utmost importance in 

 bringing home to botanists the value and signifi- 

 cance of the geological record as affecting plants. 



Among his special papers may be mentioned 

 his brilliant work on the Isle of Wight fossil, 

 Bennettites Gibsonianus (1890; translated 1891) 

 the type of the Mesozoic Cycadophytes, on the 

 Cycadofilices Protopitys, Medullosa, etc. ; on the 

 Devonian, and Lower Carboniferous plants of Ger- 

 many, and on Psaronius. In a quite recent paper 

 on the last-mentioned group he elucidated, for the 

 first time, the true nature of the root-zone. The 

 remarkable recent progress of Palaeobotany is in 

 a great degree due to his researches. 



Count Solms became a foreign member of the 

 Linnean Society in 1887, of the Royal Society in 

 1902, and of the Geological Society in 1906. He 

 received the gold medal of the Linnean Society 

 in 191 1, and was made a Sc.D. of the University 

 of Cambridge at the Darwin Celebration in 1909. 



He had a thorough knowledge of this country, 

 and was a good friend of the English ; many who 

 knew him personally were deeply attached to him. 

 He was always intensely averse to the idea of a 

 rupture between his country and ours. We have 

 no record of his feelings after war broke out, but 

 must remember that he was a patriotic German, 

 who had served in the war of 1S70. 



He was a striking and original personality, of 

 rare intellectual power, and a born leader of men. 



D. H. S. 



NOTES. 



In the course of a debate on co-operative fiscal and 

 economic policy, In the House of Commons on Mon- 

 day, reference was made to the fact that some indus- 

 tries were almost entirely in German hands before 

 the war broke out. Mr. Runciman, President of the 

 Board of Trade, made the following remarks upon this 

 subject towards the end of the debate :— We have been 

 placed under grave disabilities owing to the fact that 

 optical glass was made almost entirely in Austria and 

 Germany and so little of it was made in this country. 

 It was one of the first articles in which the Board of 

 Trade took an interest in the autumn of 19 14. We 

 gathered together all the information we could on the 

 subject of optical glass. We gave every possible 

 assistance to those in this country who were prepared 

 to undertake its manufacture, and already they are 

 producing optical glass which never before had been 

 equalled here. We trust that the monopoly which was 

 held by Germany before the war will never go back to 

 her. In chemicals we have produced to a remarkable 

 degree a large number of articles which before the 

 NO. 241 I, VOL. 96] 



war were almost entirely in German hands. Take the 

 case of dyes. Not only the company which by leave 

 of this House was assisted out of our national funds, 

 but also other concerns have produced an enormous 

 amount of dyes during the war. Electrical apparatus 

 in some particulars was almost entirely in German 

 hands. Every one of these articles, glass, chemicals, 

 dyes, electrical apparatus, and I could name about a 

 dozen others, were Industries of vast importance not 

 only to us as a great commercial country, but as a 

 fighting country. Without these glass articles, with- 

 out soma <jf the porcelain articles which are essential 

 for electrical construction, without the best type of 

 magneto, without some of the best of our chemicals, 

 and without a great range of dyes, which used 

 to be manufactured in Germany, we were placed at a 

 great disadvantage. Never again should that happen. 

 This is more than a mere" matter of coinpeting with 

 Germany. It ought to be part of our national organ-' 

 isation. Government departments can do a great deal,, 

 and I believe they ought to do more, but without the 

 personal ability, without the training, skill, and iridus- 

 try of the Individual, nothing can be done by Govern- 

 ment departments. I therefore put down as one of 

 the first necessities of this country, if she is to hold 

 her own during times of war and when war is over, 

 that we must improve our research methods, the educa- 

 tion of our people, and the training of our young 

 men. We should not attempt to economise on the 

 money we now spend on technical colleges and modern 

 appliances. There are other directions In which we 

 can cut down expenditure with less national damage. 



Prof. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., professor of chemistry 

 at the University of Oxford, has accepted the post 

 of head of the research department of British Dyes, 

 Limited. He has also accepted the chairmanship of 

 the Advisory Council of that company, in the place 

 made vacant by the death of the late Prof. Raphael 

 Meldola, F.R.S. The board of British Dyes, Limited, 

 expresses special gratification that it has been able 

 to secure the services of Prof. Perkin, who occupies a 

 position of unique distinction as an organic chemist, 

 and has done much valuable research work In regard 

 to problems arising in connection with the manufacture 

 of dyes. He is a son of the late Sir William Perkin, 

 who was the founder of the coal-tar colour industry. 



The council of the Geological Society of London has 

 this year made the following awards of medals and 

 funds :— Wollaston medal. Dr. A. P. Karpinsky (Petro- 

 grad); Murchlson medal. Dr. R. KIdston, F.R.S. 

 (Stiriing); Lyell medal. Dr. C. W. Andrews, F.R.S. 

 (Natural History Museum, London); Wollaston fund, 

 Mr. W. B. Wright (Geological Survey of Ireland); 

 Murchlson fund, Mr. G. W. Tyrrell (Glasgow Univer- 

 sity) ; Lyell fund, Messrs. M. A. C. Hinton and A. S. 

 Kennard. 



The late Prof. Meldola left property of the value of 

 34,956L, the net personalty being 33,767^. He be- 

 queathed his entomological collection and cabinets to- 

 the Hof>e Museum, Oxford. After certain legacies 

 have been paid, the residue of the property is left to 

 the testator's wife for life, and then for his children. 



