156 



NATURE 



[June i6, 1898 



And whereas this arrangement which left the ground on the 

 east of Exhibition Road for the extension of the Art Museum 

 has been generally accepted since 1876, when the Royal Com- 

 mission for the Exhibition of 1851 offered land and a building 

 with a view of carrying out the recommendations of the Duke 

 of Devonshire's Commission in 1874 to provide the needed 

 accommodation for science at South Kensington. 



And whereas we are informed that this arrangement is in 

 danger of being altered by the erection of science buildings on 

 the east side of Exhibition Road. 



We, the undersigned members of the Royal Academy and 

 others practising various branches of the arts as a profession, 

 ■desire most respectfully to express to your lordship our strong 

 opinion that it is desirable to adhere to the former policy, which 

 has been acted upon and publicly acknowledged by the Govern- 

 •ment since 1890, considering the urgent need of much addi- 

 tional space even for the present art collections of the South 

 Kensington Mugeum, and the necessity for making some pro- 

 vision for their proper development, we are convinced that any 

 attempt to provide on the east side of Exhibition Road for the 

 necessary expansion of the science buildings will render it 

 impossible to meet the future requirements of the industrial 

 arts, for the promotion of which the South Kensington Museum 

 was founded. We also feel that in praying your Lordship to 

 reserve for art that portion of the land which still remains 

 vacant on the east of Exhibition Road, we are not making an 

 exorbitant demand. The whole plot of ground belonging to 

 the Government on that side is much smaller than that devoted 

 to the Natural History Museum, which only represents one 

 branch of science without either teaching or applications, 

 while the space on the east of Exhibition Road has to provide 

 not only for the Art Museum, but also for the administrative 

 ■offices of the Department of Science and Art, the Royal College 

 of Art, and part of the Royal College of Science. 



We hope to be able to give the full list of signatures 

 next week. 



NOTES. 



At the annual meeting of the Royal Society for the election 

 of Fellows, held on Thursday last, the following were elected 

 into the Society :— Mr. H. F. Baker, Prof. E. W. Brown, Dr. 

 Alexander Buchan, Mr. S. F. Harmer, Mr. Arthur Lister, 

 Lieut. -General C. A. McMahon, Prof. W. Osier, Hon. C. A. 

 Parsons, Prof Thomas Preston, Prof. E. Waymouth Reid, Mr. 

 Alexander Scott, Mr. A. C. Seward, Mr. W. A. Shenstone, Mr. 

 H. M. Taylor, and Mr. James Wimshurst. The certificates of 

 these new Fellows, setting forth the scientific work accomplished 

 by each, were reprinted in Nature of May 12. 



The ladies' conversazione of the Royal Society was held on 

 Wednesday in last week, and was attended by a large and 

 brilliant assembly. Most of the objects and experiments which 

 were shown at the conversazione were exhibited at the soiree 

 held at the beginning of May ; and as these have already been 

 described in Nature (p. 61), it is unnecessary to refer to them 

 again. The exhibit which attracted the greatest amount of 

 attention was the spectrum of krypton, the new constituent of 

 atmospheric air, discovered by Prof. Ramsay and Mr. Travers. 



Prof. H. A. Lorentz, of Leyden, and M. Emile Picard, 

 of Paris, have been elected, by the London Mathematical 

 Society, honorary foreign members, in succession to the late 

 Profs. Brioschi and Hertz. 



When Hutton published the two volumes of his famous 

 ^' Theory of the Earth," in 1795, he left a third in manuscript, 

 which was declared by his friend and biographer, Playfair, to be 

 necessary for the completion of the subject. Yet this important 

 ■contribution to science has not only never been published, but 

 seems to have almost passed out of mind. Sir Archibald Geikie 

 last year set inquiries on foot with the view of trying to trace the 

 lost manuscript. A portion of the volume, comprising Chapters 

 NO. 1494, VOL. 58] 



IV. to ix., came into the possession of Leonard Horner, who 

 eventually presented it to the library of the Geological Society of 

 London, where it has remained since 1856. But every effort to 

 discover the rest of the work has hitherto failed. At Sir 

 Archibald's request, the Society has agreed to publish the six 

 chapters in its possession, each of which is complete in itself ; 

 and he is now engaged in preparing the work for the press. The 

 chapters contain some interesting narratives of Hutton's journeys 

 in Scotland in search of illustrations of his theory. In particular, 

 they include his account of the celebrated visit to Glen Tilt, 

 where he found the granite veins which filled him with such 

 exuberant delight that his guides were convinced he must have 

 discovered a vein of silver or gold. They contain also an 

 account of an expedition into Galloway, and a remarkably full 

 description of the geology of the island of Arran. The volume 

 will be interesting to geologists as a continuation of one of the 

 great classics of their science. 



As the two last nominations of foreign knights of the Prussian 

 Order potir le mirile have fallen to British subjects, it may be 

 of interest to give a list of the existing members. The Order 

 received its French title from its founder, Frederick the Great, 

 who, as is well known, had a partiality for that language. It 

 was at first given for military services only, but its statutes were 

 remodelled in 1842 by King Frederick William IV., and the 

 class "fiir Wissenschaften und KUnste" was instituted. The 

 German knights of this class, with whom the election into the 

 Order practically rests, are limited to thirty in number, and at 

 present are : A. Menzel, Chancellor ; T. Mommsen, Vice- 

 Chancellor ; the other members in the order of election being, 

 in the Section of Science : R. W. Bunsen, Max Midler, E. 

 Zeller, T. Noeldeke, J. V. du Vernois, A. Auwers, E. Pfliiger, 

 H. Vogel, A. V. Baeyer, O. Fiirst v. Bismarck, F. Kohlrausch, 

 H. Grimm, H. Brunner, A. v. Kolliker, H. Usener, W. Hittorf, 

 A. Weber, C. Neumann and Schwendener. In the Section of 

 Art : L. Knaus, A. Achenbach, J. Schilling, R. Begas, F. 

 Schaper, E. v. Gebhardt, H. Ende and A. Hildebrand. The 

 foreign knights, limited to the same number, are, in the Section 

 of Science : O. v. Boethlingk, C. Ilermite, Sir G. G. Stokes, 

 N. A. E. V. Nordenskjold, M. Berthelot, O. v. Struve, Lord 

 Kelvin, Lord Lister, V. Jagic, P. Villari, H. Kern, J. G. 

 Agardh, M. J. de Goeje, G. V. Schiaparelli, F. Imhoof-Blumer, 

 T. H. van 't Hoff, A. O. Kowalevsky, W. Stubbs (Bishop of 

 Oxford), O. Montelius, Sir John Murray and Sir W. H. Flower. 

 In the Section of Art : L. Alma Tadema, G. Verdi, G. Monte- 

 verde, E. Wauters, L. Passini and F. Pradilla. 



A special meeting of the Royal Geographical Society will be 

 held on Monday, June 27, at 430 p.m., when Prof. Elisee 

 Reclus will describe his plans for the construction and erection 

 of a great terrestrial globe on the scale of i : 500,000 (8 miles to 

 an inch). The president. Sir Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., will occupy the chair. The subject is one which will 

 interest both geographers and engineers. 



The Royal Commission for the Paris Exhibition of 1900 are 

 now prepared to circulate information respecting the exhibition. 

 The classification and rules for exhibitors, together with forms 

 of application for space, can be obtained by applying to the 

 Secretary of the Royal Commission, Paris Exhibition 1900, 

 St. Stephen's House, Westminster, S.W. 



In connection with the seventieth meeting of the Society of 

 German Naturalists and Physicians, to be held at Diisseldorf in 

 September, a series of exhibitions of scientific apparatus and 

 objects has been arranged. An exhibition of objects illustrating 

 the history of medicine and science will be open from July to the 

 end of September. An exhibition of apparatus and photographs 

 illustrating scientific applications of photography will commence 



