March 7, 1901] 



NA TUI^E 



;447 



, unreservedly at the disposal of every one anxious to 

 carry on physical or chemical research. 



" I do not think that FitzGerald ever harboured an 

 angry or uncharitable thought about any one, nor have I 

 ever known any one who, knowing him, did not regard 

 him with the greatest love and respect ; for he was known 

 to be absolutely true to himself, and therefore to his 

 fellow men. Although he held strong views on many 

 points and could defend them with vehemence, his 

 argument was never a personal one ; and it was obvious 

 that he was actuated solely by a love of truth, and that 

 his only object was ,to defend what he thought to be 

 right. Moreover, what FitzGerald thought to be right 

 was pretty sure to turn out to be right in the long run. 

 May I suggest as the reason why FitzGerald was so 

 universally beloved, that he was a Christian in the 

 truest sense of the word, and that he followed very 

 closely the footsteps of his Master ?" , 



In a letter from Prof. Tilden to the Times of February 

 27, in which, as Dean of the Faculty of Science of the 

 University of London, he " places on record their high 

 appreciation of his brilliant qualities as a man, as a 

 teacher, as an investigator, as a leader of scientific 

 thought," he goes on to speak on his own behalf of 

 FitzGerald's modesty and extreme unselfishness, of the 

 clarification and enlightenment which many a scientific- 

 man has owed to his inspiring conversation, of the " most 

 memorable discourse " which he delivered to the Chemical 

 Society in 1896 as the Helmholtz lecture. The key of 

 deep personal loss is struck in a touching and^eloquent 

 tribute communicated to the Electrician by Dr. O. Lodge, 

 and in a shorter notice in the Times and the Philosophical 

 Magazine, coming from one who writes with authority 

 on the industrial applications of science. 



Prof. Perry, speaking as President of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers, records that " in all engineering 

 questions he had not only the laboratory experimenter's 

 point of view, but also that of the practical engineer. His 

 was a mind that saw the bearing of all scientific know- 

 ledge on any practical problem. I have no hesitation in 

 saying that in Prof. FitzGerald our profession has lost 

 one of its greatest, most beneficent forces." In proposing 

 a vote of condolence, Prof. Ayrton spoke to the same 

 effect. 



The pride and affection which he inspired in his own 

 College is revealed in a masterly appreciation contributed 

 to the Athenaeum by one of his colleagues on the literary 

 side. " His appearance was not unworthy of his fame. 

 More striking he was than handsome ; but his'ample grey 

 locks and beard, his furrowed brow, his penetrating eyes, 

 reminded one of the bust of some Greek philosopher, 

 which we cannot look upon without that instinctive feel- 

 ing of respect which intellect and character command 

 among civilised men." 



■ For some years he had been in precarious health. 

 •He was subject to recurring attacks of digestive trouble ; 

 but the buoyancy with which he threw them off, and the 

 unabated zeal with which he returned to his scientific 

 pursuits in the intervals of health, concealed the real 

 gravity of the situation. News of a sudden crisis was 

 received in London and Cambridge with universal feel- 

 ings of deep concern. He has now passed (on 

 February 21) from the scene of an active and most 

 beneficent career, in the fiftieth year of his age. His 

 memory will not die. It will be carried on by a school 

 of experimental physics, including the names of Joly and 

 Preston and Trouton and W. E. Wilson, which he was 

 mainly instrumental in creating ; while in a wider 

 sphere men such as Heaviside and Lodge and Ramsay 

 and Perry have been proud to testify to their indebted- 

 ness and to claim him as their master. His scientific 

 place will be henceforth alongside RowanHamihon and 

 MacCullagh and Humphrey Lloyd, and Ihe other famous 

 men who have secured for the Dublin school so 



NO. 1636, VOL. 63] 



prominent a position in the edifice of modern physical^ 

 science. In the higher domain of heart and conduct the 

 recollection of his qualities will be an abiding treasure to- 

 all who knew him. J. L. 



NOTES. 

 We learn from the Political Notes in the Times that the receni: 

 dismissals at Coopers Hill College were discussed on Monday at 

 a meeting held in one of the committee-rooms of the House of 

 Commons. The meeting was convened by Sir W. Anson, Sir 

 Michael Foster, Mr. Milward, and Mr. C. P. Trevelyan ; and< 

 the attendance included Mr. Haldane, Mr. Emmott, Mr. C 

 Douglas, Mr. Yoxall, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Spear, Mr. E. Gray, 

 Mr. Lecky, Mr. Cohen, Mr. J. G. Talbot, Mr. Bartley, Mr. 

 Norman and Mr. Howard. Apologies for inability to be pri^- 

 sent were received from Sir R. Jebb, Sir J. Batty-Tuke, Mr'. 

 J. A. Campbell, Sir L. Mclver and Mr. Leigh-Bennett. This 

 list, it will be seen, includes not only members of all the British 

 parties, but the representatives of all the Universities. It wife 

 decided to request another interview with Lord < George 

 Hamilton, in order to press upon him the necessity for an 

 inquiry into the whole circumstances. Failing success in thl^ 

 endeavour the matter will be brought forward in the Housfr 

 at the earliest possible opportunity. 



In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Lord George Hamilton 

 said, in reply to a question by Mr. O'Mara : — Colonel Ottley's 

 suggestions for the rearrangement of the course of study at 

 Coopers Hill are dated June 13, 1900, and the report of the^ 

 board upon them is dated the 24th of the same month. The 

 visitors who signed the report are, with scarcely an exceptioip^ 

 experts of the highest authority upon the technical question^ 

 submitted to them, and thay are selected in order that they may 

 advise as experts.— Mr. O'Mara asked whether the conclusions^ 

 were come to by the committee at a single sitting. Lord G. 

 Hamilton §^id that the cpmmittee had the memoranda some- 

 time before them. The report was a long and exhaustive pne, 

 but he could not say whether its consideration only occupied 

 one sitting. Mr. O'Mara : " Was not the meeting to consider 

 the report. called for the 24th, and did not the committee report 

 the same day ?" No reply was given. In ansvyer to a furthet 

 question by Mr. O'Mara, Lord G. Hamilton said :— Colonel Ottley 

 was informed when he became president that the existing systerrk, 

 of instruction was not considered to be satisfactory and required 

 remodelling. Colonel Ottley has an unbroken experience of 

 twenty-five years' service in India in almost every department of 

 civil engineering, and the special knowledge he thus obtained 

 of the training and capacity of the young engineers working under 

 him from Coopers Hill pre-eminently qualified him to advise as 

 to the special technical training required for the Public Works- 

 Department in India. — Mr. O'Mara asked whether he was t6 

 understand that the code - of regulations, which provided that 

 the president should be assisted by the teachers in regulating 

 the course of studies, was not carried out by the present presi- 

 dent. Lord G. Hamilton understood that Colonel Ottley had 

 been in frequent communication with the teachers. ^ ) 



A SMALL zoological expedition is just starting for the Malajr 

 Peninsula. It consists of Mr. N. Annandale, who was 4. 

 member of the " Skeat " expedition to the Siamese Malay 

 States in 1899, and Mr. H. C. Robinson, hon. research 

 assistant in the Zoological Department of University College, 

 Liverpool. They intend to settle for a year in the native Stafe 

 of Jalor, near the east coast of Lower Siam, and to explore the 

 neighbourhood of Patani and Biseret. Collections will be made 

 in all branches of natural history, while one of the special 

 objects of the expedition is the study of the pre-Malayan tribes- 



