December 4, 1919] 



NATURE 



l^Z 



specific chemical messenger, which travelled by the 

 blood, and not by the stimulation of nerve-endings 

 and the passage of impulses through nerves and the 

 central nervous system. They showed that this secretin 

 was but a type of a whole group of substances which 

 they designated hormones. The discovery of these hor- 

 mones, and the precise 'definition of their nature and 

 of the conditions of their activity, mark an important 

 epoch in the development of our knowledge of the organs 

 of the animal body. Prof. Bayliss's researches on the 

 mode of action of enzymes and on the closely related ques- 

 tions with regard to the nature of colloidal solutions 

 have obtained universal recognition. The war led to 

 Prof. Bayliss making a great advance in practical 

 medicine. He studied the condition known as shock, 

 which follows great loss of blood. The condition 

 had previously been treated by the injection of saline 

 solution, but the effect produced was characteristicallv 

 transitory, and sometimes no benefit accrued at all. 

 Prof. Bayliss, amongst other things, proved that per- 

 fused fluid to be effective must contain colloidal 

 matter sufficient to give the osmotic pressure of the 

 normal colloidals of the blood. 



\ Royal Medal is awarded to Prof. John Bret- 

 land Farmer for his researches in botanv, especiallv 

 in the cytology and anatomy of plants. 



Prof. Farmer's work is characterised bv the funda- 

 mental importance of the problems worked upon ; thus 

 his memoirs on the meiotic phase (reduction division) 

 in animals and plants are of as great value to 

 zoologists as to botanists, and his conclusions and 

 interpretations of the complex nuclear changes which 

 precede the differentiation of the sexual cells lave 

 stood the test of criticism, and remain the clearest 

 and most logical account of these verv important 

 phenomena. His papers, in collaboration with his 

 pupil. Miss Digby, on the cytology of those ferns in 

 which the normal alternation of generations is de- 

 parted from has thrown new light on problems of the 

 greatest biological interest, and especiallv on the 

 nature of sexuality. In his cvtological work on can- 

 cerous growths Prof. Farmer has established the close 

 similarity between the cells of malignant growths and 

 those of normal reproductive tissue. 



.\ Royal Medal is awarded to Mr. James Haywood 

 Jeans. 



"Wr. Jeans has successfullv attacked some of the 

 most difficult problems in mathematical phvsics and 

 astronomy. In the kinetic theory of gases he has 

 improved the theorv of viscositv, and, using 

 generalised co-ordinates, has given the best proof vet 

 devised of the equioartition of energy and of Max- 

 well's law of the distribution of molecular velocities, 

 assuming the validitv of the laws of Newtonian 

 dvnamics. In dvnamical astronomv he took up the 

 difficult problem of the stabilitv of the pear-shfiped 

 form of rotating, incomoressible, gravitating fluid at 

 a point where Darwin. Poincar^, and Liapounoff had 

 left it, and obtained discordant results. Bv proceed- 

 ing to a third order of approximation, for which ver\- 

 great mathematical skill was required, he showed 

 that this form was unstable. He followed this up bv 

 the discussion of the similar problem when the fluid 

 is compressible, and concluded that for a densitv 

 greater than a critical value of about one-auarter I hat 

 of water the behaviour is generally similar to that 

 of an incompressible fluid. For lower densities the 

 behaviour resembles that of a nerfectlv compressible 

 fluid, and with increasing rotation matter will take a 

 lenticular shape and later be ejected from the edce. 



The Davy MEDAt. is awarded to Prof. Percy 

 Faraday Frankland for his investigations in three 

 sections of chemical science. 



Prof. Frankland's earlv work on the illuminating 

 power of burning hvdrocarbons was considerable in 



MO, :?6i4. VOL. 104I 



amount, and had the further merit of inspiring others 

 in the study of combustion. He was one of the first 

 after Pasteur to study seriously the chemical reactions 

 which occur during the vital processes of numerous 

 lower organisms, and to apply such reactions to the 

 preparation of pure products. During the last twenty 

 years he has devoted himself to the elucidation of the 

 relationship existing between the chemical constitu- 

 tion and the rotatory power of optically active sub- 

 stances. 



The Sylvester Medal is awarded to Major Percy 

 .'Alexander MacMahon. 



Major MacMahon 's researches on the combinatory 

 analysis and on subjects allied to the partition of 

 numbers are of the highest value, and display great 

 originality and invention. He has shown eq'ual power 

 in the discovery and treatment of the wonderful ranges 

 of partition theorems which are derivable from the 

 theorv of elliptic functions, and of the similar theorems 

 to be obtained bv the application of analysis to purely 

 arithmetical principles. 



The Hughes Medal is awarded to Dr. Charles 

 Chree. 



Dr. Chree has for many years devoted himself to 

 the intimate study of the phenomena of terrestrial 

 magnetism, notably those which are recorded by self- 

 registering instruments. He has investigated the 

 differences which occur in the diurnal variation on 

 quiet or moderately disturbed days, studied the 

 initial stages of magnetic storms, and investigated 

 various problems connected with the relation of 

 .solar phenomena and manifestations of terrestrial 

 magnetism. Perhaps the most notable result obtained 

 is that called by Dr. Chree the "acyclic change." 

 This manifests itself on taking the averages of quiet 

 days, when it appears that the mean value of the 

 magnetic force is not the same at the end as it was 

 at the beginning of the 24-hourly period, but shows a 

 difference which is always in the same direction. 



THE HYDRO-ELECTRIC SURVEY OF 

 INDIA.^ 



AT a time when so much enterprise and energy are 

 being displayed in collecting facts and data con- 

 cerning the world's water-power resources, the issue 

 of a preliminary report on the water-power resources 

 of India is an incident of considerable interest and 

 importance. The investigation was commenced in 

 iqiS under instructions from the Indian Government 

 by the late Mr. G. T. Barlow, C.I.E., who was placed 

 in charge of the survey, with Mr. J. W. Meares as 

 his assistant. The untimelv and deplorably sudden 

 death of Mr. Barlow in .April, iqiq, towards the close 

 of the tour of inspection, left the compilation of the 

 report in the hands of Mr. Meares, who was appointed 

 as his successor in the post of Chief Engineer. Mr. 

 Meares has discharged his exacting task in a very 

 able manner. The removal of Mr. Barlow's colla- 

 boration was, of course, a serious deprivation, as a 

 numtjer of places were visited by him unaccompanied ; 

 and, although he compiled his notes with everv care, 

 his unrecorded impressions would have been of great 

 value. Notwithstanding this the report is excellently 

 put together, and full of useful information. 



The earliest water-power installation in India was 

 the electric lighting plant of the town of Darjceling, 

 carried out by Mr. Meares himself in iSqy. Five 

 years later considerable power for industrial purposes 

 was developed in Mvsore from the River Cauvery. 

 Then nothing of importance happened until the initia- 



^ " Hydro-electric Survry nf India." Pre'iminary Report on the Water- 

 nowrr Resources of India. As'-ertaineH during the Season lotS-ip hy the 

 late G. T. Barlow, assisted bv J. W, Meares. Compiled by J. W. Me«res. 

 Pp. vii-f-io8+iii plates. (Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, 

 India.) Price Rs. 3.2 or 4s. gtf. 



