1^2 



NATURE 



[April i8, 191 8 



to deal with such other matters as may be reiferred 

 to them from time to time by the council." 



Mr. Macpherson, Parliamentary Under-Secretary 

 ior War, in a written reply to Mr. Lynch, who asked 

 (in the House of Commons whether it is possible to con- 

 struct a gun capable of throwing a projectile eighty 

 jmiles or more, and, if so, whether steps have been 

 taken in consequence, has stated that it is possible to 

 (Construct such a gun, and that the necessary steps 

 have been taken. 



Replying to a question as to the ages of the small- 

 pox patients now being treated in the hospitals of the 

 Metropolitan Asylums Board, and the vaccinal condi- 

 tion of each patient, Mr. Hayes Fisher, President of 

 the Local Government Board, has given the House of 

 Commons the following information : — The condition 

 as to vaccination of the thirty-four cases in question at 

 the time of exposure to infection was as follows : — 

 Under five years of age, four cases, all unvaccinated. 

 Between five and fifteen years, ten cases, all unvac- 

 cinated. Between fifteen and twenty-five years, four 

 cases, all unvaccinated. Between twenty-five and 

 thirty-five years, six cases, all vaccinated, none revac- 

 cinated. Above thirty-five years of age, ten cases, all 

 vaccinated, of which two are stated to have been re- 

 vaccinated several (more than twenty) years previously.. 

 Of the total thirty-four cases, fifteen were vaccinated 

 or revaccinated after exposure to infection. 



Engineering for April 12 comments upon the memo- 

 randum issued recently from which it appears that the 

 net cost of the Army in 1916-17 was s87,7g6,567i., of 

 which enormous total the sum of 285J. was appro- 

 priated to inventors. The disproportion recalls Fal- 

 staff's famous reckoning, -where one poor halfpenny- 

 worth of bread figured as an item amongst an intoler- 

 able deal of sack. The remark has often been heard 

 that this is an engineers' war, but the above account 

 would convey the impression that the authorities are 

 as reluctant as ever to encourage the application of 

 original thought to the improvement of our material 

 of war. Fortunately, engineers and scientific men 

 have actively exerted their patriotic efforts without 

 consideration of personal profit, and hence, whilst the 

 account may state truly the amount paid for ideas, it 

 affords no criterion for estimating the actual value of 

 the services rendered by inventors, which have in many 

 .cases been given gratuitously. 



By the death at the age of seventy-three of Prof. 

 Paul Vidal de la Blache France has lost her foremost 

 geographer. For many years Prof, de la Blache held 

 the chair of geography at the Sorbonne, where his 

 lectures had attracted students from many countries. 

 He was one of the first to introduce causal treatment 

 into geography, and, emphasising always its human 

 side, to raise it to the rank of a scientific study. He 

 was the author of numerous geographical works, and 

 for several years had been one of the editors of the 

 Annales de Gdographie. Of his many works the best 

 known is probably his "Atlas g^nferal Vidal de la 

 Blache," which appeared in i8go and succeeding years. 

 This atlas, which contains about 137 maps, including 

 fifty-two historical maps and many insets, is the 

 standard French atlas. Many of the maps are marked 

 by^ great ingenuity of conception, and several are 

 unique to this atlas. Prof, de la Blache also showed 

 much interest in historical geography, and among his 

 earlier works was one on Marco Polo. His last work, 

 published in 1917, entitled "France de I'Est," dis- 

 cussed the geographical basis of the history of Alsace- 

 Lorraine. Prof, de la Blache was a member of the 

 French Institute. 



NO. 2529, VOL. lOl] 



Mr. George Mitchell Seabroke, who died sud- 

 denly on April i— his seventieth birthday— was 

 educated at Rugby School in the house of 

 Mr. J. M. (now Canon) Wilson, under the 

 headmastership of Dr. Temple. No doubt he owed 

 much to Canon Wilson's inspiring teaching, both of 

 science and mathematics, as well as a personal friend- 

 ship which lasted his whole life. On leaving school 

 he was articled to Mr. M. H. Bloxam, solicitor and 

 clerk to the magistrates of the Rugby Petty Sessional 

 Division, to whose practice and clerkship he succeeded 

 in 1871. Mr. Seabroke 's scientific and mechanical 

 tastes showed themselves in early youth. There was,, 

 and probably is still, a model steam engine which he 

 constructed in the 'fifties, preserved in the cabinet of 

 physical apparatus in Rugby School. At the same 

 time he was interested in astronomy, and requiring an 

 instrument more powerful than a 3i-in. refractor, he 

 invented and constructed a machine for grinding and 

 polishing glass specula. This enabled him to con- 

 struct a 9-in. reflecting telescope, still preserved as a 

 supplementary instrument in the Temple Observator>', 

 and chiefly used for spectroscopic work. Of the Tem- 

 ple Observatory of Rugby School, founded by the 

 energy of Canon Wilson in 1871, Mr. Seabroke was 

 .the first curator, a position which he held until his death. 

 In, 1870 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society, and contributed to the publications of 

 the society papers on spectroscopic observations on the 

 motion of the fixed stars in the line of sight and on 

 the micrometric measure of double stars. He took an 

 active part in the formation of the British Astro- 

 nomical Association. He was elected on the first 

 council, was president 1910-12, director of the double- 

 star section 1902-15, and of the Saturn section 

 1898-1911. This is not the place to describe Mr. Sea- 

 broke 's public work for the town of Rugby during 

 the last forty-five years, but it may be mentioned that 

 he was an active commander of the volunteer corps 

 and was given the rank of Hon. Lt.-Col. of the 2nd 

 Warwickshire Volunteer Battalion. He also took a 

 leading part in the co-ordination of fire brigades, which 

 led_ to the establishment of the National Union of Fire 

 Brigades, of which he was one of the founders. 

 Elected to the old Rugby Board of Health in 1875, he 

 soon took in hand the task of supplying Rugby with 

 a plentiful supply of pure water, to the maintenance 

 of which he paid constant attention. A few weeks 

 before his death he was made deputy-lieutenant of the 

 county of Warwick. 



The death is announced of Mr. Robert Win- 

 throp Blackwell, one of the best-known pioneers of 

 electric traction, whose name has been equally familiar 

 an this country and in the United States during 

 ,the last thirty-five years. Mr. Blackwell was 

 born in 1858, and educated at Princeton University, 

 where he was a contemporary of President Wilson. 

 He afterwards practised at the American Bar, and was 

 attracted into electrical work in 1883, when he fovmded 

 the Bentley Knight Electric Railway Co., which in- 

 stalled an electrically operated tramway system in 

 Cleveland, Ohio ; this line, opened in 1884, was the 

 first commercial line operated electrically. Mr. Black- 

 well took up his residence in this country in 1890, and 

 founded the firm of Robert W. Blackwell and Co. in 

 1894. This firm secured the contract for the Bristol 

 electric tramways in 1895, and the great success of 

 this undertaking paved the way for many others. His 

 name will be remembered on account of the excellent 

 quality of the work carried out under his direction, 

 and for the kindly assistance and advice which he was 

 always ready to offer. He was a member of many 

 clubs, and was in charge of most of the arrangements 

 for looking after the American Military Mission dur- 

 ing its visit to this country. 



