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NATURE 



[October ii, 1917 



of the face, two of the chest, with precise records 

 of the colour of skin, eyes, and hair. The statis- 

 tical staff of the Prudential Insurance Company 

 of America has undertaken to deal with the data 

 collected, while the Smithsonian Institution will 

 faciliate the publication of results. 



Although the intentions of the British committee 

 are more wide-reaching- and aim at ascertaining 

 the condition of all elements in the population, it is 

 to be hoped that the observations taken in Britain 

 and America will be capable of direct comparison — 

 for, beyond doubt, the bulk of the population of 

 the United States has a British ancestry. 



PROF. CHARLES LATHAM. 



BY the sudden death of Prof. Charles Latham 

 on September 27, the University of Glasgow 

 has lost an eminent member of its teaching staff in 

 the department of applied science. In 1902 the late 

 Dr. James S. Dixon, an eminent coalmaster of 

 Glasgow, "recognising the want of a means of 

 teaching the higher branches of the theory and 

 practice of mining in the University, and the desire 

 for acquiring such knowledge displayed by many 

 young men connected with mining," gave the 

 University io,oool. for the foundation of a lecture- 

 ship in the subject. In the various branches of 

 engineering, and in naval architecture, curricula 

 were already provided which prepared for the 

 degree of B. Sc. in applied science. Mining was 

 added as an alternative curriculum, and the new 

 department was entrusted to Mr. Latham. He had 

 been trained in the Wigan School of Mines, and 

 had been assistant general manager of the Moss 

 Hall Coal Co. For nine years (1893—1902) he was 

 director of mining at University College, Notting- 

 ham. The first Dixon lecturer speedily made his 

 department efficient, and his numerous courses of 

 instruction attracted many pupils. 



In 1907 Dr. Dixon supplemented his original 

 endowment by 6500L, and the University, with the 

 consent of the Privy Council, transformed the 

 lectureship into a chair. To this Mr. Latham 

 was forthwith appointed, the electors including 

 H.M. Inspectors of Mining and the presidents of 

 the Scottish Mining Institute and the Coalmasters' 

 Association. In the new chair Prof. Latham con- 

 tinued to devote himself to the advancement of 

 his subject by teaching and research. He raised a 

 considerable Equipment Fund, by means of 

 generous contributions from the leaders of the 

 Scottish mining industries, who had great con- 

 fidence in his policy and character. Assisted by 

 the fund, the University was enabled to equip the 

 museum and laboratory of the deoartment with 

 valuable exhibits and apparatus, and Prof. Latham 

 gave himself to the training of his pupils and 

 assistants in the practical and experimental sides 

 of their work, and in original investigations on 

 mine-pumps, winding machinery, coal-cutting, 

 inflammable gases, life-saving appliances, etc. His. 

 course was recognised by the Home Office as 

 equivalent to two of the five years' practical train- 

 ing required under the Coal Mines Acts for the 

 NO. 2502, VOL. 100] 



qualification of mine manager. By arrangement 

 with a number of the largest collieries in Scotland, 

 his students were enabled, during the summer 

 months of each year of the course, to acquire 

 experience of mining practice. Many of them now 

 occupy responsible positions in the industry, and 

 in technical institutions throughout the country. 

 Prof. Latham served on numerous advisory and 

 other committees relating to mining, and pub- 

 lished, in the Transactions of the Mining Institute 

 and elsewhere, memoirs of importance on his 

 researches in the above-mentioned subjects. 



NOTES. 



Thk Minister of Reconstruction has appointed a 

 committee to advise him as to the procedure which 

 should be adopted for dealing with the position of the 

 chemical trades after the war. The committee consists 

 of the following members : — Sir Keith W. Price (chair- 

 man), Mr. J. Anderson, Mr. J. F. Brunner, Dr. C. 

 Carpenter, Prof. J. G. Lawn, Sir William Pearce, Mr. 

 K. B. Quinan, and the Right Hon. J. W. Wilson. 

 Mr. G. C. Smallwood, Ministry of Munitions, will act 

 as secretary to the committee. The officers of Govern- 

 ment departments are appointed with the concurrence 

 of their respective Ministers, and the other members 

 of the committee have been appointed at the sugges- 

 tion of a representative meeting of chemical manufac- 

 turers. Dr. Addison has requested the committee to 

 conduct its deliberations with a view to the creation 

 of some organisation which should be adequately re- 

 presentative of the trade as a whole, and by means of 

 which the trade may be enabled hereafter to continue 

 to develop its own resources and to enlist the closest 

 co-operation of all those engaged in the chemical in- 

 dustry. 



On October 6 Prof. W. J. Pope addressed a meet- 

 ing of teachers at Regent Street Polytechnic on the 

 neglect of expert knowledge of scientific subjects by 

 the British Government. Germany, he is reported b}' 

 the Times to have said, prepared for war by the estab- 

 lishment of a huge chemical industry, which was built 

 up round the coal-tar industry, and then by exporting 

 a large proportion of the world's requirements of coal- 

 tar colours and pharmaceutical and photographic pro- 

 ducts. This success was achieved in spite of the fact 

 that England once possessed the whole of the heavy 

 chemical industry of the world. We formerly produced 

 practically all the nitric and sulphuric acids and the 

 greater part of the alkali used throughout the world. 

 This industry has been taken from us as the result of 

 Germany's foresight and exploitation of scientific 

 ability. The coal-tar industry was established origin- 

 ally in this country, and until ten years ago Germany 

 was practically dependent on us for crude coal-tar and 

 for the simpler first products separated from coal-tar. 

 Alluding to the establishment of the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Research with an endowment 

 of i,ooo,oooL, Prof. Pope remarked that the question 

 to be answered is why that experiment was not made 

 twenty years ago, at a time when it would have been 

 undoubtedly successful in preventing the horrors of the 

 last three years. We have suffered in the past from 

 the exclusively British method of making the specialist 

 entirely subservient to the administrator, the adminis- 

 trator being generally chosen because he is available, 

 because he is politically acceptable, and because he 

 knows nothing whatever about the subject which is 

 to be administered, and is therefore not likely to be 

 prejudiced by any previous convictions. The process 

 of appointing someone who knows nothing to super- 



