422 



NA TURE 



February 28. 1901 



beloved lady whose death has now plunged us into the deepest 

 grief. 



While thus uttering words of sorrow we ask leave, sire, at the 

 same time, to lay at your Majesty's feet our unfeigned and heart- 

 felt congratulation upon your Majesty's accession to the Throne 

 of your ancestors to reign over a people to whom happily your 

 Majesty is no stranger, but who have by many experiences 

 learned to recognise your great worth, and have been led to the 

 sure hope that under your gracious rule the nation will continue 

 to hold the proud position which it has gained under the 

 guidance of your beloved mother. 



That your Majesty's reign may be long, happy, and glorious, 

 and that you may ever rule in the hearts as well as over the 

 persons of a loving, dutiful, and grateful people is the earnest 

 wish and ardent prayer of your Majesty's loyal and dutiful sub- 

 jects, the President, Council, and Fellows of the Royal Society 

 of London, 



The King's reply was as follows : — 



I am much gratified by the warm expression of your loyalty 

 and affection, of your profound sympathy with our present 

 grief, and of your loving appreciation of the goodness and great 

 qualities of my dearly beloved mother. I thank you for your 

 dutiful good wishes, and I share your hope that my reign also 

 may be blessed by a continuous growth of my people in en- 

 lightenment, refinement, and power for good. The intellectual 

 attainments and energies which your society so conspicuously 

 represents are among the most precious possessions of the nation 

 as aids in securing those high ends, and I remember with grati- 

 fication the close connection of the society with its Royal founder 

 and my other predecessors on this Throne, and the fact that I 

 am a Fellow, as was also my dear father. You may feel assured 

 of my constant interest in and protection of your work, and in 

 token of my good will I shall be pleased to inscribe my name as 

 patron in the charter book. 



NOTES. 



We deeply regret to announce that Prof G. F. Fitzgerald, 

 F.R.S,, died on Thursday, February 21, at the age of forty-nine 

 years. 



Sir Archibald Geikie retires to-day, February 28, from 

 the office of Director-General of the Geological Survey of the 

 United Kingdom and Director of the Geological Museum, after 

 a service of nearly forty-six years. He has remained at his 

 post after the usual age-limit in order to complete the annual 

 summary of progress of the institution under his charge. It is 

 understood that, being now freed from administrative duties, he 

 intends to devote himself to the completion of several important 

 Memoirs of the Geological Survey. He is succeeded in his 

 appointment by his colleague, Mr. J. J. H. Teall, F. R.S., who 

 is at present president of the Geological Society. 



A VERY interesting announcement referring to the Leonid 

 meteors has been received from the president of the Toronto 

 Astronomical Society. He informs us that Mr. R. ¥. Stupart, 

 vice-president of the Society, director of the Toronto Observa- 

 tory and superintendent of the Meteorological Service of Canada, 

 has sent him a copy of the following notes made by an ob- 

 server at York Factory, Hudson's Bay : — " November 15, 1900. 

 Very general display of shooting stars. Some very big ones 

 N.W. to S.E. Sky full in shoals. November 16. — Shooting 

 stars seen until daylight. Scared the people — they thought it 

 was the end of the world." From these records it appears that 

 a shower of Leonid meteors actually did occur last November. 



It is announced that a strong and influential committee has 

 been formed with a view of erecting a triple monument in 

 Heidelberg, by which the names of Bunsen, Kirchhoff and 

 Helmholtz, whose lives and works are inseparably associated 

 with the scientific progress and the rapid social and intellectual 

 development of the alma mater of that city, should be thus 

 lastingly and fittingly commemorated. It is proposed that 

 special appeals for contributions should shortly be issued to 

 NO. 1635, VOL. 63I 



some of the learned societies and academies in the German 

 Empire as well as to some personal friends and admirers of the 

 late three famous men of science, whose friendship they are 

 known to have enjoyed and by whose influence they have 

 benefited in their subsequent scientific attainments. It is under- 

 stood, however, that the general public will not be invited to 

 contribute towards this Bunsen-Kirchhoff-Helmholtz memorial 

 fund. The chairman of the committee is Dr. Adolf Kussmaul, 

 Emeritus Professor of Medicine in the University of Strassburg, 

 to whose suggestion the movement owes its origin. 



The current issue of the Journal of the Franklin Institute 

 contains an interesting account of a discussion on the electric 

 distribution of power in workshops, which brings out very clearly 

 the numerous advantages to be gained by the adoption of this 

 method of distributing power. The rapid success which the 

 system has achieved in America points conclusively to its con- 

 venience and economy. As one of the speakers pointed out, 

 electric power originally based its claim to attention on the 

 ground that there was much less loss in distribution, and that a 

 saving of 20 to 60 per cent, of the total power used might there- 

 fore be effected by substituting electric for shaft driving. This 

 saving, although at first sight it appears great, may, however, 

 be quite small when considered in relation to the total cost of 

 turning out the finished article which the factory produces, 

 amounting, perhaps, to but a small fraction of a per cent. But 

 electric power, it was soon found, effects saving in many other 

 ways, one of the chief of which is that it enables the positions 

 of machinery to be decided with reference to the machine 

 rather than to the shafting. This means that the availalDle 

 floor space can be much more thoroughly utilised. In the case 

 of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, it was stated in the dis- 

 cussion, the adoption of electric driving has saved so much 

 floor space that the works would have to be made about half as 

 big again to give the same output with shaft driving. In 

 addition to these advantages, electric power has proved more 

 convenient, healthier and less dangerous. With all these recom- 

 mendations it ought not to be long before it entirely displaces the 

 old-fashioned systems. 



A BILL intended to organise the National Observatory of the 

 United States has been introduced into the Senate by Mr. 

 Morgan. The object is to convert the U. S. Naval Observatory 

 into a National Observatory, and the following sections from the 

 text of the bill, given in Science, describe the proposed organi- 

 sation : — " That the Director of the National Observatory shall 

 be an eminent astronomer, appointed by the President, by and 

 with the advice and consent of the Senate, at a salary of five 

 thousand dollars per annum, and shall be selected from the 

 astronomers of the National Academy of Sciences unless, in the 

 judgment of the President, an American astronomer of higher 

 scientific and executive qualifications shall be found. That the 

 Secretary of the Navy may detail for duty as astronomers at the 

 National Observatory such professors of mathematics and other 

 officers of the Navy as he shall deem necessary in the interests 

 of the public service ; but on and after the passage of this Act 

 no appointments shall be made of such professors unless 

 required for service at the Naval Academy." 



The departmental committee appointed by the Board of 

 Agriculture, and presided over by the Earl of Onslow, to inquire 

 into the conditions under which agricultural seeds are at present 

 sold, has completed the report upon the subject. The com- 

 mittee conclude that the seed trade in England is, on the whole, 

 well conducted, and has of late years improved with the advance 

 of science. Nevertheless, the majority of the committee recom- 

 mend that one central station should be provided in the United 

 Kingdom for the purpose of testing the purity and germinating 

 power of seeds sent to it for official examination. 



