144 



NATURE 



[April i, 1920 



construction of important new works, he succeeded 

 to the position of acting- engineer-in-chief, and 

 became engineer-in-chief in 1898. He resigned this 

 post in 1913, and then became a partner in the 

 firm of Sir J. Wolfe Barry and Partners, but 

 remained consulting- engineer to the Mersey Dock 

 Board until the time of his death. Mr. Lyster 

 became a member of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers in 1882, and was president in 1914- 

 He served as a member of the International Tech- 

 nical Commission for the Suez Canal, and was 

 consulted with reg-ard to improvements of the 

 harbours at New York, Bombay, Port Elizabeth, 

 Shanghai, etc. He was also a member of the 

 Admiralty Committee on Naval Works at Doon 

 and Rosyth, and associate professor of engineering 

 at Liverpool University. 



By the death of Mr, W. A. E. Ussher, which 

 occurred on March 19, many British geologists 

 will lose an old friend who, whether in his usual 

 mood of breezy optimism, or in a rarer phase of 

 boisterous pessimism, was always g-ood company. 

 Mr. Ussher joined the Geological Survey in 1868 

 and was engaged in the mapping of various parts 

 of England, but his name will always be associated 

 with the Devonian, Carboniferous, and New Red 

 rocks of Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset, where 

 he spent most of his official career. His principal 

 contributions to the literature of these formations 

 appear in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey, 

 in the Journal of the Geological Society, and in 

 the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 

 In his study of the West Country rocks it was 

 his constant endeavour to secure correlation with 

 their European equivalents, and thus he was 

 brought into close association with many Con- 

 tinental geologists of note. In 1914 he was 

 awarded the Murchison medal of the Geological 

 Society in recognition of his labours. Mr. Ussher 

 retired from the Survey .in 1909; unfortunately, 

 ill-health since then kept him in almost complete 

 retirement. 



By the comparatively early death of Dr. R. C. 

 Maclaurin on January 15 last, the United States 

 have lost an accomplished and energetic immi- 

 grant. Dr. Maclaurin was born at Lindean, Scot- 

 land, in 1870, and in 1897 was placed in the first 

 division of the first class of the advanced part 

 of the Mathematical Tripos. It was an unusually 

 good year, the candidates including Grace and 

 Bromwich. Dr. Maclaurin was alsp equal for 

 the second Smith's prize. After graduating, he 

 at first turned his attention to law, but before very 

 long became professor of mathematics in the 

 University of New Zealand, This post he left in 

 1907 to occupy the chair of mathematical physics 

 at Columbia, N,Y., and two years later became 

 president of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology. He published one legal treatise, and two 

 on the theory of light ; besides this, he contributed 

 various papers to the Philosophical Transactions 

 and other periodicals. 



NO, 2631, VOL, 105] 



Notes. 



A LIST of 5604 promotions in and appointments 

 to the Civil Division of the Order of the British 

 Empire " for services in connection with the war '* 

 was published on March 30 as a supplement to the 

 London Gazette. We notice the following names of 

 men of science and other workers known in scientific 

 circles -.—Knight Grand Cross {G.B.E.): Dr, A, E. 

 Shipley, F,R.S,, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge Univer- 

 sity. Knights Commanders {K.B.E.): Prof. I. Bayley 

 Balfour, F.R.S., University of Edinburgh; Prof. 

 W. H. Bragg, F.R.S., University College, London; 

 Dr. S, F, Harmer, F.R.S., Director of Natural His- 

 tory Departments, and Keeper of Zoology, British 

 Museum; and Dr. J. E. Petavel, F.R.S., Director of 

 the National Physical Laboratory. Commanders 

 {C.B.E.): Prof. H. L. Callendar, F.R.S., Imperial 

 College of Science, London ; Dr, C. C, Carpenter, 

 chairman, South Metropolitan Gas Co. ; Mr. F. H. 

 Carr, Chief Chemist, Messrs. Boots Pure Drug- 

 Stores; Prof. F. G. Donnan, F.R.S., University 

 College, London; Mr. W. P. Elderton ; Mr, A. P. M. 

 Fleming; Prof. P. F, Ftankland, F.R.S., University 

 of Birmingham; Dr. F. W. Edridge-Green ; Prof, 

 W, A, Herdman, F,R,S., University of Liverpool; 

 Prof, J. C, Irvine, F.R.S., University of St. Andrews; 

 Mr. J. G. Lawn; Prof. T. M. Lowry, F.R.S. ; Mr. 

 W. Macnab; Dr. R. A. O'Brien, Director, Wellcome 

 Physiological Research Laboratories; Mr. J. E. Sears, 

 National Physical Laboratory; Mr. F, J. Selby, 

 National Physical Laboratory; Dr, T. E. Stanton, 

 F.R.S. , National Physical Laboratory; Mr. G. Stubbs, 

 Government Laboratory; Lieut. J. R. F. Wild, 

 member of Sir E. Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition; 

 and Dr. Dawson Williams, editor, British Medical 

 Journal. 



The impending retirement of Sir Napier Shaw, who 

 has been the Director of the Meteorological Office 

 since 1905, and as president of the International 

 Meteorological Committee occupies a unique position, 

 marks an epoch in the history of British meteorology. 

 Trained primarily as a physicist, Sir Napier has 

 been able to approach meteorological problems in a 

 scientific spirit. His academic experience brought 

 him into contact with younger men, and by the en- 

 couragement he extended to them he raised the level 

 of his subject. As a consequence, there are at the 

 present moment a greater number of men in the 

 British Empire capable of dealing with intricate 

 meteorological problems than in any other part of 

 the world. A heavy responsibility rests on the 

 authorities on whom the duty of nominating Sir 

 Napier's successor falls. When the Meteorological 

 Office was taken over by the Air Ministry last year 

 the change was looked upon with grave misgivings. 

 The near future will show whether the anxiety then 

 felt regarding the wisdom of a step that was taken 

 against the advice of all competent authorities is to 

 be relieved or intensified. It would be an Irretrievable 

 calamity If administrative rather than scientific 

 qualifications were to determine the choice. Unless 

 the whole future of British meteorology is to be 



