Maiuh 28, 19 1 8] 



NATURE 



67 



01 gums, gelatine, albumin, starch, tragacanth, 

 and adhesive materials generally ; in the clarifica- 

 tion of wines ; in filtration processes, treatment of 

 sewage, river sludge, and the function of charcoal 

 purifiers ; in the de-emulsification of water in 

 steam turbines ; in the preparation of medicinal 

 emulsions ; in the manufacture of margarine and 

 other foodstuffs ; in brewing and fermentation in- 

 dustries ; in catalytic reactions, such as the hydro- 

 genation process ; in chemical analysis, electro- 

 analysis, and electro-deposition processes ; in the 

 coagulation of rubber latex and in vulcanisation ; 

 in the manufacture of celluloid and celluloid pro- 

 ducts ; in the flotation process of ore separation ; 

 \\\ the riianufacture and setting of cements, plaster, 

 and mortar; in the preservation of building 

 materials ; in the manufacture of ruby glass, 

 opaque glass, and enamel ; and in the application 

 of electrical endosmose to peat drying and the 

 preparation of pure colloids for medicinal purposes. 



The above rather heterogeneous list — by no 

 means exhaustive — will give some idea of the 

 ^ ariety and extent and consequent importance of 

 colloid chemistry for the chemical manufacturer. 

 It is an urgent matter that the great significance 

 of this branch of chemistry should be recognised 

 by all interested in the prepress of chemical in- 

 dustry. 



In the first report of the British Association 

 Committee on Colloid Chemistry and its Indus- 

 trial Applications, now before us, several of the 

 processes mentioned above are discussed. The 

 committee has aimed at compiling information 

 I ti,'"arding the advances which have been made 

 m colloid chemistry itself and in its applications 

 TO industrial processes, with the object, in the 

 first place, of making such information as widely 

 available as possible, and, in the second, of 

 emphasising the need for much greater attention 

 being paid to this wide, but hitherto neglected, 

 branch of chemistry. Each subject has been 

 treated by an expert, so that the selection and 

 presentation of material may be regarded as 

 authoritative. It is evident that at the present 

 lime there is a very considerable "lag" between 

 >cientific knowledge in this field and industrial 

 practice. The result is that the majority of work- 

 ing processes are largely empirical, their me- 

 chanism obscure, and the probability of improve- 

 ment consequently small. This is obviously an 

 extremely unsatisfactory state of affairs. The 

 remedy lies, of course, in the vigorous prosecution 

 of research over the entire range of colloid chem- 

 istry in the research laboratories of manufacturers 

 and in the chemical departments of our universi- 

 ties. In this connection it is perhaps worth 

 while to point out *hat there is not a single chair 

 or independent department of colloid chemistry in 

 any of our universities or university colleges. The 

 time has surely come for development in this 

 direction, in order that a subject of such present 

 importance and possessing great possibilities may 

 become a real source of strength to our chemical 

 industries. W. C. McC. Lewis. 



NO. 2526, VOL. lOl] 



DR. G. J. HINDE, F.R.S. 



BY the death of Dr. George Jennings Hinde 

 on March 18 another pioneer in the modern 

 ipethods of studying fossils has passed away. Dr. 

 Hinde devoted the greater part of his long life to 

 the investigation of the remains of the lower in- 

 vertebrate animals, which need careful and often 

 laborious preparation for the microscope befo-'e 

 they can be examined. He thus contributed much 

 to geology by adding to our knowledge of rock- 

 forming organisms, and at the same time pro- 

 moted the advance of zoology by his discovery 

 and description of many kinds of calcareous and 

 siliceous skeletons, which were either entirely new 

 or revealed new facts in distribution. 



Dr. Hinde was born at Norwich in 1839, ^ind 

 emigrated in early life to the Argentine Republic, 

 where he was engaged in sheep-farming. He was 

 always interested in natural history, and as soon 

 as the opportunity occurred at the beginning of 

 the 'seventies he decided to retire from business 

 and follow more congenial pursuits. He left Ar- 

 gentina for Canada, and proceeded to the Uni- 

 versity of Toronto, where the late Prof. H. A. 

 Nicholson was then starting his professorial 

 career. Stimulated by Nicholson's lectures and 

 personality, Hinde began to follow his teacher in 

 studying the Silurian and Ordovician fossils of 

 Canada. He also became interested in the re- 

 markable glacial deposits, which are so conspicu- 

 ous a feature of the region in which he dwelt. 

 Nicholson had specially devoted attention to the 

 microscopic structure of the corals and obscure 

 organisms which abounded in the limestones, and 

 it Was to the microscope that Hinde naturally 

 turned as the chief instrument for his researches. 

 He travelled extensively and collected industri- 

 ously in Canada and the United States, where he 

 remained for seven years. Among minute fossils 

 his most important discoveries were conodonts and 

 jaws of annelids in the Ordovician rocks. 



Returning to England, Hinde found similar 

 jaws of annelids in the Silurian rocks of this 

 country, and described them in the Quarterly 

 Journal of the Geological Society in 1880. In 1879 

 he recovered and prepared a remarkable collection 

 of sponge-spicules from a hollow in a chalk-flint 

 at Horstead, near Norwich, and soon recognised 

 that most of them were new. He accordingly went 

 to study his little collection at the University of 

 Munich, under the direction of Prof. K. A. von 

 Zittel, who had just completed there an important 

 revision of the fossil sponges. Hinde published 

 his results in 1880 in the form of a thesis, for 

 which he received the degree of Ph.D. Returning 

 finally to England, he next prepared a descriptive 

 illustrated catalogue of the fossil snonges in the 

 British Museum, which was published by the 

 trustees in 1883 ; and this was followed by the first 

 volume of a monograph of the British fossil 

 sponges, issued by the Palaeontographical Society 

 between 1887 and 1893. Several smaller papers 

 were also the outcome of his researches, the most 

 important being an account of the cherty sponge- 



