396 



NATURE 



[August 25, 1898 



that the fifty-six well-established elements which he was 

 able to consider, when arranged in the order of the 

 magnitudes of their atomic weights, formed eight 

 octaves, each eighth element exhibiting a recurrence of 

 the same or closely sim.ilar chemical and physical 

 properties. All this is now, acknowledged, but the 

 Chemical Society never did Newlands full justice in the 

 matter ; and while the Royal Society awarded the Davy 

 Medal jointly to Profs. Mendeleef and Lothar Meyer for 

 their work on the periodic scheme, it was only some 

 years later, namely in 1887, that the same distinction was 

 conferred, we believe in consequence of Dr. Frankland's 

 representations, upon the discoverer of the law. 



They order these things better in France. If Newlands 

 liad been a Frenchman, the Academy of Sciences and 

 the Chemical Society, even if they had at first fallen into 

 error, would have taken care that in the distribution of 

 honours their own countryman should not come in last. 



John Alexander Reina Newlands, to give him his full 

 name, was the second son of the Rev. William Newlands, 

 M.A. Glasgow, a minister of the Established Church of 

 Scotland, and was born in Southwark in 1837. He was 

 educated privately by his father, and, having early 

 imbibed a taste for chemistry, he entered the Royal 

 College of Chemistry as a student under Hofmann, in 

 October 1856. After a year at College he became 

 assistant to Prof. Way, then chemist to the Royal 

 Agricultural Society. His mother, though born in 

 England, belonged to an Italian family, and the insur- 

 rectionary movement under Garibaldi roused the enthu- 

 siasm and sympathy of the young chemist to such a pitch 

 that, on the call for volunteers in i860, he left Way, and 

 went to fight in the cause of Italian freedom, and only 

 returned home at the end of the campaign. He then 

 rejoined Way for a time till, in 1864, he began practice 

 on his own account as analytical chemist in the City. 

 About this time, and for some years later, he taught 

 chemistry at the Grammar School of St. Saviour's, 

 Southwark, at the School of Medicine for Women, and 

 at the City of London College. In 1868 he became 

 chief chemist at Mr. James Duncan's extensive sugar 

 refinery at the Victoria Docks, and remained in that 

 position till 1886, when, in consequence of the decline of 

 the business owing to foreign competition, he joined his 

 brother, Mr. B. E. R. Newlands, in independent practice 

 as analytical and consulting chemists. Mr. Newlands' 

 name was associated with the invention of several im- 

 portant unprovements in the refining of sugar, especially, 

 we believe, the so-called alum process for the purification 

 of beet molasses. 



In 1884 Mr. Newlands published a small volume con- 

 taining a reprint of all his papers on atomic weights, with 

 some additions embodying his later views on the same 

 subject. He is also author, jointly with his brother, of a 

 treatise on "Sugar, a Handbook for Sugar Growers and 

 Refiners,' and of some articles on " Sugar" in Thorpe's 

 Dictionary. 



Mr. Newlands left a widow, a daughter, and a son, 

 Mr. W. P. R. Newlands. The latter studied chemistry 

 at the Royal College of Science, and will take his father's 

 place in the firm. 



A kindly courteous man, his face will be much missed 

 l)y the older Fellows of the Chemical Society, where he 

 had been a familiar figure for so many years. 



W. A. T. 



PROFESSOR GEORGE EBERS. 



PROF. EBERS, the well-known Egyptologist, whose 

 death has recently been announced, will be long 

 remembered in connection with the papyrus which 

 bears his name. Dr. Ebers was born in 1837 at Berlin, 

 and his friendship with Brugsch and Lepsius led him to 

 take a keen interest in Egyptology. In pursuit of his 



NO. 1504, VOL. 58] 



studies he visited Egypt, and it was during the winter 

 of 1872-73, while staying at Thebes, that he had the good 

 fortune to purchase from a native dealer at Luxor the 

 hieratic medical papyrus which made him famous. On 

 his rieturn from Egypt he deposited the papyrus in the 

 University Library at Leipzig, and two years later he 

 published a facsimile of the text, with a description, 

 glossary, &c., in collaboration with his friend Dr. Ludwig 

 Stern. The " Papyrus Ebers," which is in a perfect 

 state of preservation, is the most important medical 

 papyrus that has been found in Egypt, and has thrown 

 considerable light on the medical knowledge of the 

 ancient Egyptians. In addition to his numerous publi- 

 cations on Egyptian archieology. Dr. Ebers gained a 

 considerable reputation as a novelist. In 1889 ill health 

 compelled Dr. Ebers to relinquish his duties as Professor 

 of Egyptology at Leipzig, and from that time till his 

 death he was a confirmed invalid. 



NOTES. 

 The death is announced of M. N. A. Pomel, of Algiers, 

 Correspondant of the Section of Mineralogy of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences. 



The Paris Academy of Medicine has received information 

 that a legacy of fifty thousand francs has been bequeathed to it 

 by Mme.C. E. Bragayract. 



Dr. Evert Julius Bonsdorff, formerly Professor of 

 Anatomy and Physiology in the University of Helsingfors, has 

 just died at the age of eighty-eight years. 



M. Bkouardei, will be the president of the French Associ- 

 ation for the Advancement of Science, at the meeting to be 

 held next year at Boulogne. General Sebert has been elected 

 vice-president of the Association, and will succeed to the 

 presidency in 1900, when the meeting will take place in Paris. 



A Reuter telegram from Naples announces that Mount 

 Vesuvius is in a stale of active eruption. The lava is flowing in 

 four streams, its progress being at the rate of 100 yards an hour. 

 The chestnuts on Mount Somma have been burned. Constant 

 explosions are heard from the central crater, which is throwing 

 out volcanic ash, and giving other evidence of activity. 



A Congress of the Astronomische Gesellschaft will be 

 opened at the Academy of Sciences at Budapest on September 

 24. Meetings will also be held on Monday and Tuesday, Sep- 

 tember 26 and 27. The Hungarian members of the Society have 

 prepared a cordial reception for the astronomers who attend the 

 Congress, among the hospitable features being a luncheon to 

 he given by the Minister of Public Instruction (Dr. Julius von 

 Wlassitz), a dinner by the town of Budapest, visits to places of 

 interest in the town and neighbourhood, and excursions to the 

 OGyalla Observatory and the Danube Cataracts— the Iron Doors. 

 The Congress will certainly give a prominent place to the discussion 

 of questions concerning the international zone-catalogue of the 

 Astronomische Gesellschaft ; and the resolutions of the Paris 

 Conference, which have given rise to a large amount of criticism, 

 will also be dealt with. Prof. F. Porro will present a pre- 

 liminary report on the revision of the Piazzi Catalogue of Stars, 

 undertaken by Dr. H. S. Davis and himself. 



A Committee, having upon it many distinguished men of 

 science in Australia, has been formed to secure the establish- 

 ment of some permanent memorial to commemorate the ser- 

 vices rendered by the late Baron von Mueller. This movement 

 is entirely distinct from that which the executors of the late 

 Baron have initiated with the object of obtaining funds for the 

 erection of a tombstone. The object of the Committee of the 

 National Memorial Fund is to secure sufficient funds to allow of 



