170 



NATURE 



[November i, 1917 



experimental science, Hull entered Dublin Uni- 

 versity as a student of engineering-, and the 

 lectures of Thomas Oldham determined his career. 

 Oldham recommended him to De la Beche, and 

 he was appointed to the English Geological Sur- 

 vey as assistant to J. Beete Jukes. 



These names serve to link Hull with the 

 pioneers of British stratigraphy, and it was Mur- 

 chison who nominated him in 1869 to succeed 

 Jukes as director of the Geological Survey of 

 Ireland. In his "Reminiscences of a Strenuous 

 Life" {1910), reviewed in Nature, vol. Ixxxiii., 

 P- 395) interesting details are given of scientific 

 life in Dublin when he entered on his new duties. 

 In the same year he became professor of geology 

 in the Royal College of Science for Ireland. 



The series of sheets of the one-inch geological 

 map of Ireland, already well advanced by Jukes 

 for the southern area, was pushed forward by 

 Hull with such prevision that the first issue was 

 completed by the date of his retirement in 1890. 

 Some of the revisions made in Jukes 's work may 

 be regarded as unfortunate ; but the northern 

 sheets, with their admirable choice of colouring, 

 remain as a monument to Hull's powers of 

 organisation. He was probably the first to 

 utilise the petrological microscope as an aid to 

 research in an official survey ("Memoir to Sheet 

 48," Ireland, 1872), and thus laid the foundation 

 for much memorable work. 



Hull's first published paper was on the Cotswold 

 Hills in 1855, and was succeeded by more than 

 150 others. Much of his time on the survey of 

 England and of Scotland was spent on Carboni- 

 ferous areas, and his book on "The Coalfields 

 of Great Britain" reached a fifth edition in 1Q05. 

 He was a member of the Royal Commissions 

 on Coal Supplies in 1(871 and iqoi. As the result 

 of a journey on behalf of the Palestine Explora- 

 tion Fund, he published a narrative volume (1884.) 

 and a geological memoir on Palestine (1886). His 

 "Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland" 

 (1878; 2nd ed. 1891I and "The Building and 

 Ornamental Stones of Great Britain, etc.," are 

 well-known treatises. A good portrait of Hull 

 occurs in the " Reminiscences " above mentioned. 



NOTES. 

 The late Mr. Cawithron left 250,000^. to the city of 

 Nelson, New Zealand, for scientific research. The 

 trustees are the Bishop of the diocese, the member for 

 the district, the Mayor of Nelson, two chairmen of 

 local bodies, and a personal friend of the deceased. The 

 site of the proposed institute has been purchased, and 

 the appointment of a director and staff is under consi- 

 deration. The object of the institute is, primarily, scien- 

 tific research work for the benefit of the province of 

 Nelson and the Dominion of New Zealand. The 

 province of Nelson is mostly concerned with fruit, agri- 

 culture, and minerals. 



Under the title of "Science and Industry," the 

 Evening Standard has recently published a series of 

 five articles discussing the bearing of applied chemistry 

 in its various branches on the welfare and safety of 

 the nation. The national importance of chemical 

 manufacture lies in the circumstance that so many 

 NO. 2505, VOL. 100] 



undertakings included in this category are key indus- 

 tries, representing vulnerable points in the commercial 

 armour of a nation. For instance, yi a country de- 

 prived of its supply of sulphur, the manufacture of 

 sulphuric acid would at once cease. This stoppage 

 would react immediately on the production of alkalis, 

 and these in turn would affect the output of soap and 

 glycerine, which would not be obtainable. Without 

 sulphuric acid, the manufacture of nitric acid from 

 nitre could not be continued, and the production of 

 explosives would be brought to a standstill. In this 

 way whole sections of commercial activity would be 

 completely dislocated, and the nation would be left 

 practically defenceless. A similar line of reasoning 

 shows that the manufacture of synthetic dyes is also 

 a key industry. These chemical industries have all 

 developed from researches often carried out, in the 

 first instance, merely out of scientific curiosity. In 

 fact, nearly all the more important and revolutionary 

 advances in industrial chemistry have sprung from 

 pure research, although utilitarian researches carried 

 out on special lines have contributed minor improve- 

 ments. The former type of research should be subsi- 

 dised by the State, whereas the latter should be main- 

 tained by the manufacturers. Scientific men, who 

 have shown undoubted aptitude for the all-important 

 pure research, have often to pretend that their inves- 

 tigations have a quasi-industrial bent in order to 

 justify their activities in the eyes of departmental 

 donors. The writer of the articles in Our contem- 

 porary asserts that in the difference between England 

 and Germany as regards the development of science 

 and industry " there is no question of superior intellect 

 or greater technical skill or a more suitable national 

 temperament," but he also blames the nation as a 

 whole for the lack of progress in industry based on 

 chemical science. Surely what is lacking in the nation 

 is the inspiration of a lofty ideal. In actual practice 

 honour and public esteem come to him who acquires 

 most wealth, and the choice of a profession is regarded 

 rnerely as a means to this end. As the German scien- 

 tific industrialist, von Rathenau, has recently pointed 

 out, this is not the sole end in view of the many 

 hundreds of chemists and other investigators who dis- 

 cover and improve the scientific processes of manu- 

 facture which are the most valuable assets of the 

 German chemical monopolies. 



Dr. Otto Klotz has been appointed Chief Astro- 

 nomer and Director of the Dominion Astronomical 

 Observatory at Ottawa. 



The death is announced, on October 27, of Mr. 

 Worthington G. Smith, of Dunstable, fellow of the 

 Linnean and other societies, at eighty-two years of 

 age. 



We notice with regret the announcement of the 

 death on October 24, at fifty^four years of age, of Mr. 

 George T. Hollowav, vice-president of the Institution 

 of Mining and Metallurgy, and widely known as a con- 

 sultant metallurgist and assayer. 



A COURSE of twelve Swiney lectures on geology will 

 be delivered by Dr. J. S. Flett at the Royal Society 

 of Arts on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, begin- 

 ning on Tuesday, November 13. The subject will be 

 "The Mineral Resources of .the British Empire." No 

 charge for admission will be made. 



We notice with much regret the announcement that 

 Baron Dairoku Kikuchi died suddenly at his villa at 

 Chigasaki, Japan, on August 19. Baron Kikuchi was 

 formerly professor of mathematics in the Imperial 

 University at Tokyo, and afterwards its president. He 

 was "the author of many contributions to scientific 



