March 4, 1920] 



NATURE 



»9 



author of ' Solutions of Jones and Cheyne's * Alge- 

 braical Exercises.'" 



A GROUP of American botanical institutions and 

 individuals has arranged through the Smithsonian 

 Institution for the continuation of the lease of the 

 Cinchona Station in Jamaica. Both British and 

 American botanists are welcomed at Cinchona. Any 

 British workers desiring to use the station should 

 ajjply direct to the Jamaican Government. Local 

 information could be obtained from Mr. William 

 Harris, the Government Botanist, at Hope Gardens, 

 Kingston, Jamaica. The opportunity of studying the 

 peculiarly rich f^ora of the mountain forests is excep- 

 tionally good, while the station itself provides labora- 

 tory space. Not the least advantage to British 

 students would be the intercourse with American 

 students and the interchange of ideas which would 

 naturally follow. The arrangements for American 

 students are in the hands of a committee consisting 

 of Dr. Britton and Profs. Coulter and Duncan 

 Jcilinson. 



Thorsten Nordenfelt, whose death at Stockholm 

 was recently announced, was best known as the 

 inventor of the gun which bears his name and as the 

 lilder of a submarine. Catling, Gardner, Hotchkiss, 

 i Nordenfelt all achieved success with their 

 ■ uichine-guns, but the greatest advance was made by 

 Maxim, who first used the force of the r^ecoil to work 

 I he mechanism. In the Nordenfelt gun the barrels 

 were placed side by side horizontally, the firing 

 mtchanism being actuated by a lever moved to and 

 fio by the gunner. A series of trials carried out at 

 I'ortsmouth in 1880 led to the use of the Nordenfelt 

 i^Lin in H.M. ships for defence against torpedo-boats. 

 In 1883 Nordenfelt constructed a submarine of about 

 <K) tons displacement. The propelling machinery con- 

 sisted of a compound surface-condensing steam- 

 . iii^ine of about loc h.p., the surface speed being nine 

 l<n()ts. Steam generated while on the surface could 

 b( stored, and this was used for running short dis- 

 tances when the boat was submerged. The crew 

 t consisted of three men, and the boat carried White- 

 liiad torpedoes. It was, however; as the inventor of 

 I 111' gun bearing his name that Nordenfelt was best 

 i<n()wh in this country, and the firm formed for the 

 manufacture of the gun became amalgamated with 

 liii Maxim Co., and now forms part of the Vickers 



We regret to see the announcement of the death 



Mr. C. D. Leslie at Fortuna, Transvaal, as the 



-ult of a railway collision. Mr. Leslie was born in 



K<iss-shire, Scotland, in 1871, and was educated at 



l-ortrose Academy and George Watson College, Edin- 



'lurgh. In 1889 he went to South Africa to take up a 



position with the Natal Civil Service, and six years 



later he left Natal to try his fortunes on the Rand. 



litre he acquired his practical knowledge of mining 



\ working side by side with the miners, and his 



ly experience gave him a great insight into under- 



imd working conditions and a profound knowledge 



(I the miners. His first position on the Rand was 



that of contractor to one of the mines of the Central 



Mining group, after which he joined the Consolidated | 



NO. 2627, VOL. 105] 



Gold Fields group, 9nd became manager of the Jupiter, 

 Nigel Deep, and Simmer and Jack Proprietary Mines', 

 where his organising powers and general mining know- 

 ledge, gained in his early mining training, fitted him 

 for the position which he ultimately held as consulting 

 mining engineer to the Consolidated Gold Fields of 

 South Africa, Ltd. During the time that Mr. Leslie 

 held this position he interested himself considerably in 

 improving general mining conditions, being, amongst 

 other things, prominent in the organisation of the 

 early trials on drill steels, and the interest he tOok in 

 the mining industry was exemplified by the able 

 address he made during his period as president of the 

 South African Association of Engineers and by the 

 scientific movement he initiated in 19 16 to develop the 

 industries of South Africa. 



At the forty-second annual general meeting of the 

 Institute of Chemistry, held on March i, Sir Robert 

 Robertson, vice-president, occupied the chair in the 

 place of Sir Herbert Jackson, the president, who was 

 absent through illness. In moving the adoption of 

 the report of council, Sir Robert read the president's 

 address, in which reference was made to the position 

 of professional men under prevailing economic condi- 

 tions. The situation is far more promising than at 

 the time of the armistice; more than 530 chemists 

 whose names had been on the appointments register 

 have now no further need of this assistance. The 

 roll of the institute is steadily increasing, numbering 

 nearly three thousand fellows and associates and 

 more than five hundred registered students. The 

 council has taken up the question of securing repre- 

 sentation of chemistry in the Ministry of Health, 

 with the satisfaction of seeing Sir William Tilden 

 appointed a member of the Council of Medical and 

 Allied Services, and Dr. J. F. Tocher' Chemist 

 to the Scottish Board of Health. Jointly with 

 the Institute of Metals, a committee is engaged 

 on questions affecting the status and organisation of 

 chemists and metallurgists with the Navy, Army, and 

 Air Force. The officers and members of council for 

 the year 1920-21 were elected as follows: — President: 

 Sir Herbert Jackson. Vice-Presidents : H. Ballantyne, 

 Sir J. J. Dobbie, E. M. Hawkins, G. T. Morgan, 

 Sir Robert Robertson, and G. Stubbs. Hon. Treasurer : 

 E. W. Voelcker. Members of Council: W. E. Adenev, 

 W. Bacon, E. C. C. Baly, O. L. Brady, F. H. Car'r, 

 A. Chaston Chapman, A. Cottrell, A. C. Cumming, 

 J.T.Dunn, L. Eynon, A. Findlay, G.W.Gray, F. W. 

 Harbord, C. A. Hill, P. H. Ki'rkaldy, J. H. Lester, 

 W. Macnab, S. E. Melling, G. W. Monier-Williams, 

 A. More, F. Mollwo Perkin, G. H. Perry, B. D. 

 Porritt, F. M. Potter, J. Rogers, E. W. Smith, 

 and W. M. G. Young. 



An important scheme for the co-ordination of the 

 Health Department of Glasgow has been adopted by 

 the City Council. Dr. A. K. Chalmers, the Medical 

 Officer of Health, will be the head of an enlarged 

 health department, which will now include the sani- 

 tary inspector, the veterinary surgeon, and the bac- 

 teriologist, each of whom until now has been head of 

 a separate department and largely independent of the 

 others. It can scarcely be doubted that this arrange- 

 ment will conduce to efficiency and economy. 



