May 19, 1S98] 



NA TURE 



55 



erect suitable buildings for the Science Museum of the 

 Department of Science and Art, and for the extension 

 of its Science Schools, in accordance with the recom- 

 mendations of the Royal Commission over which the 

 Uuke of Devonshire presided in 1874, as well as of 

 various Committees and other high scientific authorities, 

 and of a Treasury Committee appointed in 1889. 



II. And whereas when in 1891 the Government had 

 proposed to erect an Art Gallery on the site, a Memorial, 

 signed by the President and Officers of the Royal Society 

 and representatives of the Universities of Oxford, Cam- 

 bridge, and of many other learned bodies both in 

 London and in the provinces, was addressed to the 

 Most Honourable the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., F.R.S., 

 Premier and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 

 showing cause why the site should not thus be allocated. 



III. And whereas the scheme was withdrawn, and it 

 was stated by the late Right Honourable W. H. Smith, 

 M. P., that "additions to the College of Science must, 

 in any case, take the form of a separate building divided 

 from the present building by Exhibition Road," and since 

 then plans have been prepared on information supplied 

 on the instructions of Her Majesty's Treasury by the 

 professors concerned. 



IV. And whereas this arrangement has been generally 

 accepted since 1876, when the Royal Commission for the 

 Exhibition of 185 1 offered land and a building with a 

 view of carrying out the recommendations of the Duke 

 of Devonshire's Commission to provide the needed 

 accommodation for Science at South Kensington. 



Y. And whereas it was expected that this arrangement 

 would be carried out, when in 1890 the Government 

 acquired the land on the West side of Exhibition Road, 

 which was sold by the Royal Commission of the Ex- 

 hibition of 185 1 at one-third its market value, on the 

 condition that buildings for Science and the Arts should 

 be erected on it. 



VI. And whereas we are informed that this arrange- 

 ment is in danger of being altered by the erection of 

 Science buildings on the East side of Exhibition Road. 



We, the undersigned Fellows of the Royal Society, 

 desire most respectfully to express to your Lordship our 

 strong opinion that it is desirable to adhere to the policy, 

 namely, that the needful expansion of the Science 

 Buildings at South Kensington should be provided for 

 on the West side of Exhibition Road, which has been 

 acted upon and publicly acknowledged by the Govern- 

 ment since 1890, and is in strict harmony with the 

 recommendation of the Duke of Devonshire's Com- 

 jnission. We are confirmed in this opinion by the fact 

 that the space which we understand is available for 

 Science on the East side of Exhibition Road is but a 

 small fraction of that which is devoted to similar purposes 

 jn many foreign towns. 



(Signed) 

 Lister, President of the Royal Society. 

 John Evans, Treasurer of the Royal Society. 

 M. Foster, Secretary of the Royal Society, Professor of Physio- 

 logy, Cambridt;e. 

 Arthur W. Ruckkr, Secretary of the Royal Society. 

 E. Franki.and, Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society. 

 Jos. D. Hooker, Past President of the Royal Society. 

 G. G. Stokes, Past President of the Royal Society. 

 Kelvin, Past President of the Royal Society. 

 William Crookes, Past President, Chemical Society and In- 

 stitution of Electrical Engineers. 

 T. Clifford Allbutt, Regius Professor of Physic, Cambridge. 

 ■G. Carey Foster, Professor of Physics, University College, 



London. 

 A. W. Reinold, Professor of Physics, Royal Naval College, 



Greenwich. 

 William Ramsay, Professor of Chemistry, University College, 



London. 

 James Dewar, Professor of Chemistry, Royal Institution. 

 Osbert Salvin. 



NO. 1490, VOL. 58] 



LuDWiG Mono, Past President of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry. 



W. H, M. Christie, Astronomer Royal. 



W. H. White. Vice-President, Institute of Naval Architects. 



Benjamin Baker, Past President, Institution of Civil En- 

 gineers. 



W. H. Preece, Engineer in Chief, G.P.O. 



Richard Temple. 



W. Cawthorne Unwin, Professor of Engineering, Central 

 Technical College. 



R. IL Inglis Palgrave. 



W. M. Hicks, Principal, University College, Sheffield. 



John Kirk, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. 



Richard Strachey, Chairman, Meteorological Council. 



C. W. Wilson, Major-General R.E. 



Francis Elgar, Vice-President, Institute of Naval Archi- 

 tects. 



E. Ray Lankester, Linacre Professor, Oxford. 

 Richard T. Thorne. 



A. B. Kempe, Past President, Mathematical Society. 



Shelford Bidwell, President, Physical Society. 



SiLVANUS P. Thompson, Principal and Professor of Physics, 



Technical College, Finsbury. 

 ROSSE. 



p. l. sclater. 



John Perry. 



G. M. Minchin. 



Sidney Martin, M.D., Professor of Pathology, University 

 College, London. 



G. D. Liveing, Professor of Chemistry, Cambridge. 



Henry E. Armstrong, Professor of Chemistry, Central 

 Technical College. 



R. Meldola, Professor of Chemistry, Technical College, 

 Finsbury. 



P. H. Pye-Smith, M D. 



A. A. Common, Past President, Roy^l Astronomical Society. 



Rayleigh. 



J. Burdon-Sanderson, Regius Professor of Medicine, Oxford. 



W. Grylls Adams, Professor of Natural Philosophy and 

 Astronomy, King's College, London. 



H. Charlton Bastian, M.D. 



J. G. Baker. 



J. Wolfe Barry, Past President, Institution of Civil Engi- 

 neers. 



G. Johnstone Stoney, Vice-President, Royal Dublin Society. 



Henry E. Roscoe, Past President, Chemical Society. 



Wyndham R. Dunstan. 



J. H. Gladstone, Past President, Chemical Society. 



F. D. Godman, Past President, Entomological Society. 



J. Viriamu Jones, Professor of Physics, University College, 



Cardiff. 

 Edward B. Poulton, Hope Professor of Zoology, Oxford. 

 P'REDERICK J. Jervis-Smith, University Lecturer in Mechanics, 



Oxford. 

 J. Norman Lockyer, Member of the Royal Commission for 



the Exhibition of 1851. 

 W. J. L. Wharton, Hydrographer to the Admiralty. 

 W. 'Palmer Wynne, Hon. Secretary, Chemical Society. 

 J. W. Swan, President, Institution of Electrical Engineers. 

 "C. V. Boys, Vice-President of the Physical Society. 



LIQUID HYDROGEN. 

 A VERY remarkable achievement, which will redound 

 -^*- to the credit of English science, has been performed 

 within the walls of the Royal Institution. For some 

 time past it has been a matter of general knowledge that 

 Prof Dewar has been preparing for an attempt to produce 

 liquid hydrogen on a large scale. .Money has been freely 

 subscribed for investigations to be carried on at low 

 temperatures, and the laboratories of the Royal Institution 

 have gradually approached more and more nearly to the 

 likeness of an engineering workshop. Very grave diffi- 

 culties had to be encountered, and success seemed long 

 in coming ; but on Tuesday, May 10, Prof. Dewar was 

 able to inform the President of the Royal Society that 

 on that day both hydrogen and helium had succumbed 

 to his attack. 



