S26 



NATURE 



[January 31, 1901 



lectures at Lifege, and subsequently he came to Paris and 

 entered the "Alliance" factory as a workman. At this 

 factory were built dynamos and arc lamps for lighthouse 

 purposes, and here, as well as at the workshops of 

 Ruhmkorff, where he also worked. Gramme managed 

 to obtain a mastery of the principles of electric currents. 

 The development of the dynamo, although it proceeded 

 rapidly after the discovery of magneto-electric induction 

 by Faraday, had not at that time attained a sufficiently 

 high degree of perfection to give the machine then made 

 any great industrial importance. In 1870, a few years 

 after the discovery of self-excitation by Wilde, Gramme 

 invented the ring armature which "has since borne his 

 name. This type of armature had been practically 

 invented before by Pacinotti, a student at Pisa Univer- 

 sity ; but Pacinotti's invention was before its time, and 

 failed in consequence to obtain the recognition it de- 

 served. It was reserved for Gramme, in re-inventing the 

 ring armature, to produce a dynamo which rapidly 

 obtained great commercial importance. 



An interesting fact in connection with Gramme's arma- 

 ture is that the English patent was quite inadequate for 

 so important an invention. The reason of this was that 

 at the time the final specification was drawn up Paris was 

 besieged, and Gramme's English agents were unable to 

 obtain all the information they required. Gramme's 

 machine was self-exciting, and combined good commuta- 

 tion with good lamination of the armature core. Also it 

 is noteworthy that, at a time when the principles of the 

 magnetic circuit were not understood, and when it was 

 consequently impossible to design a dynamo mathemati- 

 cally. Gramme's machine had a fairly well proportioned 

 magnetic circuit. Gramme had, without doubt, the 

 engineering mind which is able to feel instinctively 

 whether a machine is well designed or not. Gramme's 

 machines were conspicuous at the Exhibition at Vienna 

 in 1873, at Philadelphia in 1876, and at Paris in 1878 and 

 1881, and probably owe their success as much to the 

 energy with which they were introduced to the world as 

 to their great intrinsic merits. 



Gramme was an Officer of the Legion of Honour and 

 a Chevalier of the Order of the Iron Crown of Austria. 

 In 1897 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order 

 of Leopold, and a banquet was given in his honour at 

 Brussels to celebrate the occasion. He died at his home, 

 near Paris, on January 20, and was buried in the cemetery 

 of Pere Lachaise on January 23. 



NOTES. 

 In consequence of the lamented death of Her Majesty the 

 Queen, and as a sign of mourning, all the meetings of scientific 

 societies announced for the latter half of last week and the 

 whole of this week have been postponed. 



The Amsterdam Genootschap ter Bevordering van Natuur-, 

 Genees- en Heelkunde has awarded the Swammerdam gold 

 medal for 1900 to Prof. Dr. C. Gegenbaur, of Heidelberg. 

 This medal was instituted by the Genootschap in 1880, to be 

 awarded every ten years to the person who in those years made 

 important researches in the sciences cultivated by Swammer- 

 dam, It was awarded for the first time, in 1880, to Prof. Dr. 

 • C. Th. von Siebold ; and the second time, in 1890, to Prof. 

 Dr. Ernst Haeckel. 



We have with deep regret to record the death of Dr. Walter 

 Myers, which took place on January 20 at Para from yellow 

 fever. It will be remembered that Drs. Durham and Myers 

 went out last June for the Liverpool School of Tropical Medi- 

 cine to study yellow fever. Both these gentlemen fell victims 

 to their devotion to science, and the latter unfortunately lost 

 his life. The world can ill afford to lose a man of Dr. Myers' 



NO. 1 63 I, VOL. 63] 



stamp, for not only did he, show great promise as a scientific 

 worker, but he had the courage and singleness of purpose to go 

 out in the cause of science and humanity to study a very in- 

 fectious and fatal disease. Many have courage to face bullets 

 in a moment of excitement, but not all have the nobler courage 

 to face an insidious disease with the coolness and nerve neces- 

 sary for scientific inquiry. 



Science announces that Dr. H. C. Bumpus, professor of com- 

 parative anatomy at Brown University, and director of the 

 biological laboratory of the U.S. Fish Commission at Woods 

 Holl, has been appointed curator of invertebrate zoology and 

 assistant to the president in the American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York City. The office of assistant to the 

 president, Mr. Morris K. Jesup, is an important executive 

 position, as the Museum has no scientific director. It was 

 created last year and was filled by Prof H. F. Osborn, who 

 has resigned in order to devote himself more exclusively to 

 research in vertebrate palaeontology. A further reorganisation 

 of the staff of the Museum has been made. A department of 

 mineralogy has been formed, with Dr. L. P. Gratacap as 

 curator, while Mr. R. P. Whitfield remains curator of geology, 

 with Dr. E. O. Hovey as associate curator. Prof. Franz Boas 

 and Dr. Marshall H. Saville have been made curators, the 

 former of ethnology and the latter of Mexican and Central 

 American archaeology, though Prof F. W. Putnam retains the 

 head curatorship in the department of anthropology. In the 

 department of mammalogy and ornithology, Mr. Frank M. 

 Chapman has been made associate curator. 



A DISCUSSION on the occurrence and detection of arsenic in 

 manufactured products has been arranged for the next meeting 

 of the Society of Chemical Industry, to be held on February 18. 



The Anatomical Society has undertaken to supply the slips 

 requisite for indexing the literature in human anatomy published 

 in Great Britain and Ireland for the International Catalogue of 

 Scientific Literature, which has been set on foot under the 

 auspices of the Royal Society. For this purpose a committee 

 has been appointed, consisting of Prof Thane, Dr. Arthur 

 Robinson, and the secretary of the Society (Dr. A. Keith). 



At the recent conference of German biologists, held at Berlin, 

 says the Athenaeum, a resolution was passed calling the atten- 

 tion of the Imperial Government to the importance of establishing 

 five floating stations on the Rhine for the purpose of biological 

 investigation. Great stress was laid on the practical advantages 

 which pisciculture would derive from these establishments, and 

 it was resolved that if the Government failed to provide the 

 necessary funds, an appeal should be made to the States of 

 Baden, Bavaria, Alsace-Lorraine, Hesse and Prussia. 



The lectures at the Royal Institution of Great Britain will be 

 resumed on Tuesday, February 5, when Prof J. A. Ewing 

 will deliver his third lecture on " Practical Mechanics (Experi- 

 mentally Treated) — First Principles and Modern Illustrations" ; 

 and on Wednesday, February 6, Prof. R. K. Douglas will 

 deliver his second lecture on " The Government and People of 

 China." The Friday Evening Discourse, on February 8, will be 

 delivered by Prof G. H. Bryan, his subject being " The History 

 and Progress of Aerial Locomotion." 



We learn from the Times that the question of the protection 

 of Stonehenge from further damage was discussed at a recent 

 meeting of the council of the Society of Antiquaries, when a 

 resolution was passed offering to co-operate with the owner of 

 this ancient monument. Sir Edmund Antrobus, for its protec- 

 tion, and suggesting that a scheme might be arranged with that 

 object in view. A copy of the resolution has been forwarded to 

 Sir Edmund Antrobus, and his reply will be considered at the 



