784 



NATURE 



[August 19, 1920 



ledge as the appreciation of its value, and the 

 advantage of applying the methods of scientific 

 inquiry in affairs of every kind. Such methods 

 are not less applicable to the problems which con- 

 front the statesman, the administrator, the 

 merchant, the manufacturer, the soldier, and the 

 schoolmaster than to those of the scientific 

 worker. These were the convictions of Sir Norman 

 Lockyer, and he had the satisfaction in recent 

 years of hearing them proclaimed from the house- 

 tops, while the Guild itself stands as a monument 

 of their power and his prescience. 



In 1904 a large and influential deputation urged 

 upon Mr. Balfour, then Prime Minister, the need 

 for further assistance to university education and 

 research, and in announcing that the grant would 

 at once be doubled, as well as redoubled in the 

 following year, Mr. Balfour stated that the in- 

 crease, which represented a capital sum of 

 3,ooo,oooL at 2\ per cent., was given as the 

 result of the appeal made in 1903 by Sir Norman 

 Lockyer in his presidential address to the British 

 Association at Southport. This represents one 

 result only of his ceaseless activity on behalf of 

 science and higher education ; the pages of 

 Nature throughout its existence afford ample 

 testimony of the use of the same zeal for progress. 



"There must," he once said, "be only one kind 

 of education — the best — and that is to be given 

 to everybody." He expected the best work from 

 everybody associated with him, and would not 

 tolerate any lower standard for either individual 

 or national aims. His fingers have now loosed 

 their grasp upon the torch of science which he 

 held aloft for so many years, but the light still 

 burns on the bank of the dark river he has 

 crossed; and in admiration, hope, and reverence 

 it will be borne onwards by workers whom he 

 inspired. His body will be laid to rest on Satur- 

 day morning at Salcombe Regis Church, Sid- 

 mouth, but his spirit will remain in the observa- 

 tory on the hill-top near-by to stimulate others 

 to reach out and touch the sky. 



Sir Edward Brabrook writes : — 



Among the many who have been honoured by 

 the friendship of Sir Norman Lockyer and are in 

 sorrow at his death, I count myself, as having 

 had opportunities of being associated with him 

 in more than one capacity. I was one of those 

 members of the Civil Service whom he invited to 

 join with him in a welcome to Mowatt, of the 

 Treasury, on the occasion of his election as a 

 member of the Athenaeum. In the year when 

 Sir Norman presided over the_ British Asso- 

 ciation, I was one of the sectional presidents, 

 and was nominated by him as a member 

 of the council. I warmly sympathised with the 

 wishes he then entertained for the extension of 

 the functions of the association, and when these 

 were seen to be not realisable in the form in 

 which he desired them, I accepted his invitation 

 to join in the formation of the British Science 

 Guild. Others will be better able than I to tell 

 the story of his labours for that institution, and 



of the success that has attended them ; but I may 

 say a few words on another aspect of his untiring 

 intellectual work, viz. his contributions to archaeo- 

 logy. In this respect he was an example of the 

 interdependence that exists between the sciences, 

 for it was the pursuit of his favourite science of 

 astronomy that gave the direction to his studies 

 of ancient civilisation. In the temples of Egypt and 

 in the stone circles of our own country he found 

 evidence of the astronomical knowledge and pur- 

 pose with which they were erected, and his own 

 profound acquaintance with the problems they 

 presented to him from that point of view led him 

 to conclusions which, as in the case of fixing the 

 date of Stonehenge, were closely verified by the 

 evidence afterwards derived from excavations on 

 the spot. 



Agricultural chemistry has lost a distin- 

 guished exponent by the death of Prof. Edward 

 KiNCH on August 6 at the age of seventy-one. 

 Prof. Kinch was educated at the Grammar 

 School, Henley-on-Thames, and the Royal College 

 of Chemistry, and successively occupied the follow- 

 ing positions : — Chief assistant to the professor of 

 chemistry (the late Sir Arthur Church) at the 

 Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, 1869-73; 

 on chemical staiff of Royal School of Mines, 

 1873-75 ; superintendent of minerals, India 

 Museum, 1875-76; professor of chemistry. Im- 

 perial College of Agriculture, Tokyo, 1876-81 ; 

 professor of chemistry, Cirencester, 1881-1915, 

 when the Royal Agricultural College closed on 

 account of the war. He published many tech- 

 nical papers on agricultural chemistry, in which 

 he was a leading authority, always distinguished 

 by the soundness of his judgment. As a teacher 

 Prof. Kinch did much for his subject both in this 

 country and in Japan, and he will be remembered 

 with respect and affection by many generations of 

 students and numerous former colleagues. His life 

 was saddened by the premature death of his young 

 wife (a daughter of the late Rev. Geo. Hunting- 

 ton), whom he married in 1889, and after this 

 he led a somewhat retired life. Those privileged 

 to be his intimate friends will not easily forget his 

 manv sterling qualities and quiet sense of humour. 



J. R.A.-D. 



We regret to note that the death of Mr. John 

 KiRKALDY is announced in Engineering for 

 August 13. Mr. Kirkaldy was born in 1853, and 

 was head of the well-known London firm of John 

 Kirkaldy, Ltd. Quite early in life he took over 

 the management of his father's business, and 

 under his direction the firm played an important 

 part in introducing fresh-water distilling apparatus 

 for use on board ship. Plant of this kind was 

 also designed for use in the Ashanti campaign, 

 and in 1883 and 1885 in connection with the 

 Egyptian campaigns. Mr. Kirkaldy was a member 

 of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and also of 

 the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 



NO. 2651, VOL. 105] 



