538 



NATURE 



[January 14, 19 15 



University of Leeds), and it had also made large 

 grants towards the establishment of technical 

 schools at Bradford and Huddersfield ; but the 

 first great sign of the City Companies' new 

 activity was the constitution of the City and 

 Guilds of London Institute in 1876. It is im- 

 possible to trace here the development of this 

 movement, in which Sir Owen Roberts took a 

 leading part. Suffice it to say that, as a result 

 of it, we now have at South Kensington the 

 magnificent Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology, which owes its existence in no 

 small measure to the munificence of the City 

 Companies. 



Sir Owen's position as an educational authority 

 was handsomely recognised when he was 

 appointed one of the seven commissioners under 

 the L'niversity of London Act, 1898, entrusted with 

 the duty of reconstituting the University. Sir Owen 

 has since confessed that in his opinion the prob- 

 lem of devising an internal university in London 

 is incapable of a satisfactory solution ; but he 

 strove with his fellow-commissioners to do the 

 utmost with the materials at their disposal, and 

 for several years he continued loyally to serve 

 the re-constituted university as a member of its 

 Senate. It is probable that he was more com- 

 pletely satisfied with the work which he did at 

 the Royal Society of Arts. One of the chief aims 

 of that royal and ancient institution has, for the 

 last century and a half, been to encourage 

 industry by the application of science and art — 

 precisely the object which Sir Owen had so much 

 at heart. He was elected a member of the 

 Society's council in 1880, and with the briefest 

 break he continued to serve on it until his death. 

 During nearly all this period he acted as Treasurer, 

 and for one year as Chairman of the Council. 

 He had a great grasp of finance, and to his sound 

 advice is due in large measure the prosperity 

 which the society at present enjoys. 



Sir Owen will be missed by a very large circle 

 of public and private friends. His genial per- 

 sonality and warm-hearted friendliness ensured 

 him a welcome wherever he went, and he retained 

 to the end a vigorous vitality that might well 

 have been envied by many a man thirty years his 

 junior. 



NOTES. 



The council of the Geological Society has this year 

 made the following awards of medals and funds :— 

 Wollaston medal, Prof. T. W. Edgeworth David, 

 C.M.G., F.R.S. ; Murchison medal, Prof. W. W. 

 Watts, F.R.S. ; Lyell medal, Prof. E. J. Garwood, 

 F.R.S. ; Bigsby medal, Mr. H. H. Hayden ; Prestwich 

 medal. Prof. Emile Cartailhac (Toulouse); Wollaston 

 Fund, Mr. C. B. Wedd ; Murchison Fund, Mr. D. C. 

 Evans; Lyell Fund, Mr. John Parkinson and Dr. L. 

 Moysey; Barlow-Jameson Fund, Mr. J. G. Hamling. 



Dr. T- Scott Keltie, secretary of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society, has been awarded the CuUum gold 

 medal of the American Geographical Society, in appre- 

 ciation of his services in the advancement of geo- 

 NO. 2359, VOL. 94] 



graphical knowledge. Arrangements are being made 

 by the American Geographical Society, through the 

 United States Department of State, for the presenta- 

 tion to be made to Dr. Keltie by the American Am- 

 bassador in London. 



The widow of Prof. Henry Draper, of Harvard, the 

 American pioneer in stellar spectroscopy, died recently 

 in New York. Mrs. Draper was herself one of her 

 husband's most capable assistants in the Harvard 

 College Observatory. On his death In 1882 she 

 presented that institution with his eleven-inch telescope 

 and provided the main funds for the preparation of the 

 great "Draper Catalogue," recording the spectra of 

 more than ten thousand stars, as a memorial to her 

 husband. It is announced in the issue of Science for 

 December 25 last that Mrs. Draper has, by her will, 

 left large bequests for public purposes. She bequeaths 

 30,000/. to the Harvard College Observatory for the 

 Draper memorial ; her husband's photographic plates 

 and apparatus are also bequeathed to the observatory. 

 The sum of 90,000/. is given to the New York Public 

 Library, 40,000/. for a memorial to Dr. John S. 

 Billings, and 40,000/. as a memorial to her father, 

 Courtland Palmer. The income of these funds is to 

 be used for the purchase of books, and an additional 

 trust fund of 10,000/. is given for the benefit of the 

 employees of the libran,'. There is also a bequest of 

 5000/. to the Smithsonian Institution, and of 5000/. 

 to the laboratory of surgical research of New York 

 University, of the medical department of which Dr. 

 Henry Draper was at one time dean. 



Some indication of the cause of the severe floods 

 which have of late been so prevalent in the Thames 

 Valley and in other parts of the country can be 

 gathered from the summary of rainfall issued in the 

 Weekly Weather Reports of the Meteorological Office. 

 In the five weeks ending January 2 the aggregate 

 rainfall was largely in excess of the average in all 

 parts of the United Kingdom. The greatest excess of 

 rain occurred in the south-east of England, where the 

 fall was 318 per cent, of the average. The next 

 highest percentage Is 284, In the east of England, 

 followed by 246 In the midland counties. In the 

 Channel Islands the rainfall was 223 per cent, of the 

 average, and In the south-west of England it was 200 

 per cent. In all other districts the rainfall was less 

 than double the normal, and In the west of Scotland It 

 was only 131 per cent, of the average. 



A SUMMARY of the weather issued by the Meteoro- 

 logical Office for the fifty-two weeks ended January 2 

 shows the aggregate conditions for 1914. The mean 

 temperature for the year was In excess of the average 

 in all parts of the British Isles. In the east and 

 north-east of England and in the midland counties the 

 mean temperature was 2° above the average, whilst 

 in all other districts except the north and south of 

 Ireland and the Channel Islands the excess amounted 

 to 1°. The south-east of England was the only dis- 

 trict with an absolute temperature of 90°, but the 

 thermometer exceeded 80° In all other districts. The 

 lowest temperature was 7° in the east of Scotland. 

 The rainfall for the year was largest in the north of 



