June 14, 1917] 



NATURE 



11 



•glissette" is a reminder to those who knew him 

 Jiat he preferred the works of the great French 

 mathematicians to all others, and would rather 

 read a good text-book in French than one In 

 Enghsh. 



It used to be a commonplace among Cam- 

 bridge undergraduates that Besant was the 

 handsomest Senior Wrangler that ever was. 

 Anyhow, he was a very handsome man; so far 

 as his head and face were concerned, he 

 resembled the photographs of Russell Lowell. 

 The left eye arid eyebrow were damaged by a 

 mountaineering accident. Above all, his 

 manners were perfect — or as near perfection as 

 human manners can be (curiously enough, his 

 gyp Scott, when I knew them both, was the 

 most gentlemanly gyp in college); no one who 

 had much to do with Besant could help trying 

 to be polite. 



Besant was Senior in 1850 (four years before 

 Routh), F.R.S. in 1871, and Sc.D. (Cant.) when 

 that degree was first instituted. He and Routh 

 were the first two to receive it, and he really 

 enjoyed the distinction, though he used to pre- 

 tend that he accepted it only to please his 

 "womenfolk,"! and had to take a cab to the 

 Senate House, lest ribald boys should jeer at his 

 salmon and geranium gown. G. B. M. 



NOTES. I 



We notice with much regret the announcement of 

 the death on June 9 of Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, , 

 F.R.S. , Woodwardian professor of geology in the 

 University of Cambridge, at eighty-five years of age. | 



In the list of birthday honours last week we ought '■ 

 to have included the names of Lieut.-Col. A. W. 

 Crossley, F.R.S., and Lieut.-Col. E. F. Harrison, two 

 chemists who have received the distinction of C.M.G. 

 in recognition of valuable services in connection with 

 the war. 



Sir William D. Nivex, whose death was announced 

 In last week's Nature, was born at Peterhead in 

 1842. After attending the Grammar Schoo' there, he 

 entered King's CuUege, Aberdeen, and graduated in 

 1861, obtaining the Simpson prize in mathematics. He 

 afterwards entered the University of Cambridge, where 

 he graduated in 1866 Elected to a fellowship in 

 Trinity College, he for some years acted as assistant 

 tutor. For a time he held an appointment at the 

 Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, but he was back 

 again in Cambridge by 1873. In 1883 he succeeded 

 Dr. Hirst as Director of Studies at the Royal Naval 

 College, Greenwich, a post which he held until his 

 retirement in 1903, when he was created K.C.B., 

 having been made C.B in 1897. He was elected a 

 fellow of the Royal Society in 1882, and served for 

 several years on the council of the society, and for a 

 period of tw^o years was vice-president. He was presi- 

 dent of the London Mathematical Society in 1908 and 

 J909. Sir William was the author of numerous pai)ers 

 m mathematics and mathematical physics. He was 

 virtually Clerk Maxwell's literary executor, and pre- 

 pared and edited his collected works. His services as 

 Director of Naval Education won the high regard of 

 the Service and the attachmeirt .of the chiefs of its 

 scientific branches. In recognition of his work, a 



1 Perhaps, like the Antiquary, he sa'd " womankind " ; I forget. 



NO. 248'^, VOL. QqI 



group of scientific friends presented him with his por- 

 trait in 191 1, and it is preserved in the collection of 

 the University of Aberdeen. 



The death is announced, on June 11, at eighty-six 

 years of age, of Sir W. C. Macdonald, the Chancellor 

 and President of McGill University, and a generous 

 benefactor to education and science in Canada. A list 

 of his chief donations given in the Times of June 12 is 

 here summarised. The gifts to McGill University 

 included a fully equipped engineering building, which 

 cost more than 70,000!., besides endowment; a physics 

 building, costing 6o,oooI. ; a building for the depart- . 

 ments of chemistry, mining, and architecture, costing 

 loo.oooi. ; 30,oooZ. to endow the faculty of law ; i8,oooI. 

 for two chairs of physics; at least 42,000!. for the en- 

 dowment of engineering; lo.oooL for a pension fund, 

 and other endowments ; also a large area of land close 

 to McGill, and bought for 20o,oooZ. for the University. 

 To promote rural education, Sir William Macdonald 

 established four "consolidated schools," one each in 

 Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince 

 Edward Island, all equipped for manual training, 

 household science, and nature-study in practical gar- 

 dening, as well as for the more conventional subjects, 

 spending about 36,000!. on this experiment ; and the 

 sequel was the establishment of the Macdonald College 

 at St. Ann's for teachers, farmers, and farmers' wives 

 at a cost of about 6oo,oooZ. When the college was 

 complete the founder presented it to McGill, along 

 with 400,000!. as endowment. 



The interim and final reports of the Halakite inquiry 

 have been issued by H.M. Stationery Office (Cd. 8446, 

 price id.). The general findings of Mr. Justice Shear- 

 man, with whom Prof. W". J. Pope sat as assessor, 

 have been widely read, but particular interest attaches 

 to Prof. Pope's report. The original specification 

 refers to an explosive having as a basis an admixture 

 of lead nitrate with glycerine, and prescribes hydro- 

 carbons, nitro-compounds, such as collodion or nitro- 

 benzene, and ba.'ium and potassium chlorates and 

 nitrates as possible constituents. It is stated that 

 i under the working conditions employed the glycerine 

 I reacts with the metallic nitrates to form a nitro- 

 I compound. Such a. claim " is untrue, and the specifi- 

 ■ cation is the production of charlatans who seek to con- 

 ceal the worthless nature of their invention by the use 

 of a scientific terminology." The earlier samples sub- 

 mitted did consist largely of metallic nitrates, the pro- 

 i portions of which varied considerably, but the nitro- 

 , compounds were found to "be short lengfths of Mark I. 

 : cordite. Indeed, all samples presented to the court 

 , contained manufactured cordite as the common in- 

 ' gredient. Halakite was recommended by its pro- 

 prietors for use as a smokeless powder for propellent 

 ! purposes and as a bursting charge for shells. The 

 ! report points out that explosives of such composition 

 are so sensitive to shock that they cannot be used as 

 high explosive for shell with any reasonable degree of 

 I safety, whilst the considerable proportion of metallic 

 I nitrates renders them unsuitable for propellent pur- 

 i poses because of low explosive power and dense smoke. 

 A later sample submitted to the French Government 

 in April, 19 16, proved to consist of about 98 per cent. 

 of Mark I. cordite, the balance being mainly lead 

 chromate. Prof. Pope says that the clumsy nature of 

 the fraud was obvious to the British and French 

 authorities concerned The whole case is an illus- 

 tration of the stupidity of otherwise astute business 

 men accepting statements of self-styled "inventors," 

 and failing to avail themselves of the advice of an 

 independent expert chemist, which action certainly 

 would have saved large sums of money and the waste 

 of much valuable public time, as well as avoided a 

 depressing public inquiry. 



