628 



NATURE 



[February 3, 19 16 



secretary bi ought him into direct contact with 

 most of the leading explorers of the day, and his 

 untiring energy and literary ability were of the 

 greatest service to the Society in collating and 

 recording the result of world-wide investigations. 

 He received the gold medal of the Society in 1888, 

 when he became its president, a position which 

 he held for eight years. Meanwhile, in 1868, he 

 joined the expedition which reached Magdala 

 (Abyssinia) under Lord Napier ; and it is evidence 

 of his unusual capacity both for personal observa- 

 tion and the collection of material which would in 

 these days be classed under the head of "intelli- 

 gence," that he wrote the best popular account of 

 that remarkable expedition which has yet 

 appeared. For ten years after this Sir Clements 

 was in charge of the Geographical Department of 

 the India Office, and this appointment gave him 

 the opportunity for rescuing from oblivion the neg- 

 lected records of the Indian Navy, and of writing 

 a history of the Indian Survey. The latter is the 

 only popular work on this subject which exists, and 

 it much wants a writer of the ability of Sir 

 Clements to bring it up to date. 



As president of the Royal Geographical Society 

 Sir Clements Markham has left an abiding name. 

 It is not too much to say that he gave his whole 

 soul to the work of maintaining the usefulness of 

 the Society in every branch of geographical activity. 

 He succeeded in impressing the administrative 

 authorities of Government, as well as those of the 

 leading universities, with the necessity for wide- 

 spread geographical education. Geographical 

 schools and teachers began to be busy, and much 

 of the present interest which is maintained in maps 

 (to be found in every newspaper now) is due to 

 his initiative. If Sir Clements appeared to be some- 

 what autocratic in council it is at least due to him 

 to say that it was his personal determination which 

 carried through many a project which would have 

 failed in weaker hands. Notably he must be 

 credited with the success of the first Antarctic 

 expedition under his own nominee, Captain Scott. 

 That expedition gave an impetus to Antarctic dis- 

 covery which has not ceased yet. As president at 

 the meetings of the Society he was a clear and 

 vigorous speaker, and he always succeeded in 

 importing something of his own vitality into every 

 subject which he handled. A firm, strong friend 

 was Sir Clements, and a somewhat pugnacious 

 enemy ; a man of strong views, and possessed of 

 that rare courage — the courage of his opinions. 

 As president of the Hakluyt Society he rescued 

 many an old record from oblivion, and has given 

 to the world a series of most interesting books of 

 ancient adventure and travel- — works which will 

 survive through the ages. T. H. Holdich. 



NOTES. 



The issue of Science for December 24 last printa 

 an address by Dr. L. H. Baekeland delivered before 

 a recent joint meeting of the New York Section of the 

 American Chemical Society, the American Electro- 

 chemical Society, and the Society of Chomical Indus- 

 try, on the recent proposals of the Naval Consulting 

 NO. 2414, VOL. 96I 



I Board of the United States. Dr. Baekeland is a mem- 

 I ber of the board, and this address is the first public 

 I report of the discussions of the board on the so-called 

 " five-million laboratory " proposed by the Naval Con- 

 sulting Board. The contemplated outlay for the navy 

 for the next five years, for new ships, aviation, and 

 reserve of munitions, amounts to ioo,ooo,oooi., and 

 the argument of the address is that an expenditure 

 of this magnitude ought to be made as efficient as 

 possible. All doubtful and inferior devices must be 

 eliminated by direct experiment, by research and tests, 

 before it is too late to remedy them. The advisory 

 board has stated the facts as it saw them, and con- 

 fronted the secretary of the navy with the probable 

 maximum expenses for research and experimentation, 

 commensurate to the five years' naval building pro- 

 gramme now under contemplation. The five-million 

 dollar budget, or 1,000,000/., for experimental work to 

 be expended during those five years, or about 200,000/. 

 a year, may, says Dr. Baekeland, strike the uninitiated 

 as needlessly large, although it is only about what 

 some industrial enterprises have found necessary to 

 spend on their own experimental work. The corrosion of 

 condenser tubes of American warships involves an 

 annual damage of about 400,000/. If 2oo,oooZ. were 

 spent on research on this problem alone, with the 

 result of reducing the damage to one-half, the total out- 

 lay would be compensated in a few months' time, aside 

 from the important fact that the fleet would be 

 stronger because less of the ships would be unavail- 

 able for service. 



Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, dominion entomologist of 

 Canada, has been elected president of the American 

 Association of Economic Entomologists for 1916. 



At the annual meeting of the Challenger Society 

 on January 26 the following officers were elected for 

 the ensuing year : — Secretary, Mr. C. Tate Regan ; 

 Treasurer, Mr. E. T. Browne; Committee, Dr. S. F. 

 Harmer, Mr. D. G. Lillie. and Prof. E. W. McBride. 



The gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 has been awarded to Dr. J. L. E. Dreyer, for his 

 contributions to astronomical history and his cata- 

 logues of nebulae; and it will be presented at the 

 annual meeting of the society to be held on Friday, 

 February 11. 



TiiE annual meetings of the Institution of Naval 

 Architects will be held on Wednesday, April 12, and 

 the following day. In the hall of the Royal Society of 

 Arts, John Street, AdelphI, W.C. Owing to the con- 

 tinuance of the war, the council has decided that It 

 would be unsuitable for the customary entertainments 

 to be given ; the annual dinner and evening reception 

 will accordingly not take place. 



The death is announced of Mr. F. M. Webster, a 

 leading American entomologist, at the age of sixty-six. 

 He was professor of entomology at Purdue University 

 from 1885 to 1888, and had held various scientific 

 official positions in connection with the States of 

 Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, as well as the Federal 

 Department of Agriculture. At the time of his death 

 he was In charge of the cereal and forage-crop insect 



