304 



NATURE 



[January 24, 1901 



to prove their own powers of organisation, but as an institution 

 of lofty traditions and high standards, the maintenance of which 

 it has been their study to secure by constant watchfulness and 

 such gradual changes as experience has shown to be necessary, 

 rather than by hasty and sudden departure from the practice of 

 the past. They have also recognised that the power of control 

 vested in them is not one to be hastily and capriciously brought 

 to bear upon every detail of the life of the college ; that the 

 members of the teaching staff are their colleagues and friends, 

 men of honour, integrity and experience, whose advice and 

 opinions on matters connected with their work should be sought 

 for with eagerness and listened to with respect, even if they 

 cannot ultimately accept them. 



" When an institution has been worked under a particular 

 system with conspicuous success for eight-and twenty years, and 

 in the twenty-ninth year we find, in place of order, chaos, in 

 place of friendship and esprit de corps of the best kind, distrust 

 and recrimination, when half the staff are dismissed with the 

 notice that would be given to a coachman, and the other half 

 are in the dark as to what their future duties are to be, when the 

 students are on the verge of mutiny, and threats of dismissal are 

 daily occurrences — it is not ' the system ' which is to blame." 



The president of the College apparently rules as an 

 autocrat, and the members of the teaching staff have to 

 do as he directs them, whatever their own opinions as to 

 the scheme of work or value of subjects may be. The 

 Board of Visitors has a conference with the president for 

 an hour or so once a year, and his views or recommenda- 

 tions are naturally adopted. The board does not come into 

 contact with the teaching staff, and the members are, 

 therefore, unable to understand the conditions under 

 which the work of the College is carried on. It is stated, 

 indeed, that the Board of Visitors imagined the revised 

 curriculum submitted to have been considered by the 

 teaching staff, whereas the staff were not consulted. 



We notice in the Times the statement that the 

 Secretary of State for India has refused to grant the 

 inquiry asked for, but it is to be hoped the matter will 

 not be allowed to rest here. A strong deputation must 

 be organised to present the memorial which we under- 

 stand has been prepared, begging for an inquiry into the 

 case, and directing attention to the position of the teach- 

 ing staff in relation to the educational policy of the 

 College. Unless there is a reformation, the case of the 

 members of the staff left will be even worse than that of 

 those who have been ordered to retire in such an incon- 

 siderate way. 



Among the signatures already appended to the 

 memorial are those of — Lord Kelvin, Lord Lister, Lord 

 Rayleigh, Sir William Huggins, Sir Frederick Abel, Sir 

 Frederick Bramwell, Sir William Crookes, Sir Archibald 

 Geikie, Sir Norman Lockyer,' Sir Andrew Noble, Sir 

 Henry Roscoe, Prof. Armstrong, Mr. W. H. M. Christie, 

 Prof. Dewar, Prof. Ewing, Mr. R. T. Glazebrook, Mr. W. 

 N. Shaw, Prof. J. J. Thomson, Prof. Marshall Ward, and 

 of some seventy other Fellows of the Royal Society. 

 Professors and teachers at all the educational centres in 

 the country are sending in their names and testifying to 

 the widespread indignation at the action of the India 

 Office. 



H. IV. CHISHOLM. 



TV/TR. H. W. CHISHOLM, late Warden of the Stan- 

 ^^ dards, Board of Trade, died in his ninety-second 

 year on January i6. He was formerly chief clerk of the 

 office of the Comptroller General of the Exchequer, and 

 on the abolition of that office in 1866 he was appointed 

 to take charge of the old Department of Weights and 

 Measures. In 1867 a new Standards Act was passed, by 

 which all powers and duties of the Treasury and 

 Exchequer were transferred to the Standards Depart- 

 ment of the Board of Trade, and Mr. Chisholm was 

 made the chief of the department with a salary of 1000/. 

 per annum. In 1868, mainly on Mr. Chisholm's repre- 



NO. 1630, VOL. 63] 



sentations, a Royal Commission on Standards was 

 appointed, on which he became an active member. The 

 Commission included also the late Prof. W. H. Miller, 

 Sir George Airy and General Sabine, eminent men of 

 science, by whose efforts the Standards Department was 

 raised to a prominent scientific position, furnished with 

 proper standards of length, mass, capacity and cubic 

 measurement, and with instruments essential for verifica- 

 tions for scientific purposes. 



Mr. Chisholm held the appointment of Warden of the 

 Standards until 1877, when he retired after fifty-three 

 years of public service. With his retirement the title of 

 Warden of the Standards was dropped, the duties then 

 being urtdertaken by a superintendent of the Standards 

 Department. 



Mr. Chisholm issued an annual report during the ten 

 years he held office, which was always full of inform- 

 ation of great interest and public use, and in which 

 metrological researches were dealt with in an exhaustive 

 manner. For instance, ainongst the subjects which his 

 printed reports dealt with we find, besides the ordinary 

 work of testing and comparing, standards of measure, 

 &c., investigations as to the expansion of metals, density 

 of water, effects of atmospheric pressure with reference 

 to the measurement of gas, calculation of probable 

 errors of observation in micrometric work, &c. 



Mr. Chisholm took a prominent part in the early work 

 of the Bureau international des Poids et Mesures at 

 Paris, which was established under a Metric Convention ; 

 and he represented Great Britain at a diplomatic con- 

 ference at Paris in 1875. In 1877 he published a book 

 relating to the history, &c., of the standards, entitled 

 " Weighing and Measuring " (Macmillan). 



With Mr Chisholm an important link has passed 

 away between the old and the new civil servants, and all 

 who had the pleasure of knowing him well will remember 

 for many years his varied abilities, cheerful disposition, 

 and his desire to help others. 



NOTES. 



In consequence of the death of the Queen, all the lectures 

 at the Royal Institution have been abandoned until further 

 notice. 



We have received information from Cairo that the time ball 

 at Port Said is dropped daily at 12 noon (30° meridian time) by 

 direct automatic signal from Abbassia Observatory. Omdurman 

 receives the same signal, and from about the middle of February 

 the time ball at Alexandria will be similarly controlled. Arrange- 

 ments have been made by which a daily weather telegram at 

 8 a.m. is exchanged between Alexandria and Malta, Brindisi, 

 Trieste, Athens and Beirut. The information so received is 

 posted outside the port offices at Alexandria and Pord Said 

 daily for the use of shipping. 



Prof. R. Blanchard has resigned his office of general 

 secretary of the Zoological Society of France, after twenty- 

 three years of service. The Society has decided to present him 

 with a medal in commemoration of his work. 



We regret to see in the Times the announcement of the deaths 

 of Dr. Danckelmann and M, Gramme. Dr. Danckelmann was 

 director of the Prussian Royal Academy of Forestry at Ebers- 

 walde. He rendered great services to the science and art of 

 forestry in Prussia, and was one of the first to advocate 

 effectively the training of foresters in special colleges. He took 

 a leading part in the teaching at Eberswalde and was the author 

 of many interesting works on forestry. M. Gramme will be 

 remembered by his inventions in connection with dynamos and 

 electric batteries. For his dynamo he received 20,000 francs 

 from the French Government and the Volta prize of 20,000 

 francs from the Academy of Sciences. 



