370 



NATURE 



[July 5, 191 7 



million tons of basic slag, and a CLuarter of a 

 million tons of ammonium sulphate. The capacity 

 for the production of high explosive was in March, 

 1917, more than four times that of March, 1916, 

 and twenty-eight times that ot March, 191 5. 



DR. ROBERT BELL, F.R.S. 



DR. ROBERT BELL, who died at Ottawa on 

 June ig, was one of the pioneers in the 

 geographical and geological exploration of 

 Canada. Born at Toronto on June 3, 1841, he 

 studied natural science and medicine at McGill 

 and Edinburgh Universities, and graduated both 

 as M.D. and as D.Sc at the former university. 

 In 1857 he joined the Geological Survey of 

 Canada, of which he became assistant director and 

 eventually acting director shortly before his re- 

 tirement. In the early part of his career he was 

 also for a short time (1863—68) professor of 

 chemistry and geology in Queen's University, 

 Kingston, Ont. 



Dr. Bell's most important work was the ex- 

 ploration and mapping of both sides of Hudson 

 Bay and the Straits, and of the rivers entering 

 Hudson Bay from the south. He also conducted 

 the first surveys of Great Slave Lake, Lake Nipi- 

 gon, and several other inland waters. As a 

 geologist he paid special attention to the oldest 

 rocks of the Laurentian and Huronian periods, but 

 also made valuable contributions to our know- 

 ledge of the Pleistocene glacial deposits of Canada. 

 As a naturalist he was a keen and skilled ob- 

 server in many directions, but was especially 

 interested in matters concerning forestry. As a 

 medical man his services were at the disposal of 

 several expeditions. Most of his reports were 

 published officially by the Canadian Geological 

 Survey and bear witness to the thoroughness of 

 his researches ; while many papers on more 

 general questions were contributed by him to 

 various societies and journals. 



Dr. Bell was one of the original fellows of the 

 Royal Society of Canada, and was elected a fellow 

 of the Royal Society of London in 1897. He 

 received the honorary degree of Sc.D. from the 

 University of Cambridge, and in 1906 he was 

 awarded the Patron's medal by the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society. In 1906 he also received the 

 Cullum gold medal from the American Geo- 

 graphical Society. 



NOTES. 



The Times correspondent reports the discovery of 

 the skeleton of a mammoth, in association with flint 

 implements, in the neighbourhood of Bapaume, ^within 

 the lines of the British Army in France. We under- 

 stand that the British Commander-in-Chief has com- 

 municated the fact to the French Government, _ and 

 that steps have been taken to preserve the specimen 

 until the line of battle is sufiiciently far removed to 

 allow of careful excavations being made. The deposit 

 in which the skeleton occurs has already yielded frag- 

 mentary remains of the mammoth. 



NO. 2488, VOL*. 99] 



In reply to a question about the suspension of the 

 publication of the Kew Bulletin, asked by Sir W. 

 Byles in the House of Commons on June 26, Mr. 

 Prothero said that the matter was now being recon- 

 sidered by the Publications Committee at the request 

 of the Board of Agriculture. He hoped it might prove 

 possible to resume publication. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death at 

 Brussels, in his fifty-third year, of Prof. H. Van 

 Laer, professor of chemistry at Mons, and president of 

 the Chemical Society of Belgium. 



News has just reached this country of the death on 

 June 2, at Pusa, Bihar, of Prof. J. H. Barnes, Agri- 

 cultural Chemist to the Government of India, and late 

 principal of the Government College of Agriculture, 

 Lyallpur, Punjab ; and also of Prof. E. G. Hill, prin- 

 cipal of Muir College, University of Allahabad. 



Lieut. J. B. Jones, whose death in action on May 

 31, at twenty-six years of age, is announced, was 

 educated at the University College of Wales, Aberyst- 

 wyth, and was a B.Sc. in chemistry, physics, mathe- 

 matics, and geology; he was student-assistant in 

 geology at the above college, and had assisted in the 

 Geological and Soil Survey of West Wales. 



Announcement is made in the Times that the 

 Government has been reluctantly forced to the con- 

 clusion that it will be impossible to pass a Bill estaib- 

 lishing a Ministry of Health during the present ses- 

 sion of Parliament. It is possible that the measure 

 may be introduced in the House of Lords, and certain 

 steps taken which will facilitate its progress next 

 session. 



The list of pensions granted during the year ended 

 March 31 last, and payable under the provisions of the 

 Civil List Act, 19 10, includes the following : — Mrs. 

 Charlton J3astian, in consideration of the serx'ices to 

 science of her late husband, Dr. Charlton Bastian, and 

 of her straitened circumstances, looi. ; Mrs. Minchin, 

 in consideration of the scientific work of her late hus- 

 band, Prof. E. A. Minchiuj and of her straitened cir- 

 cumstances, 75i. ; Mrs. Albert Giinther, in considera- 

 tion of the scientific work of her late husband, Dr. 

 Albert Giinther, and of his distinguished services to 

 the British Museum as keeper of zoology, 70L ; and 

 Mrs. Roland Trimen, in consideration of the eminent 

 services of her late husband to biological science, and 

 of her straitened circumstances, 75L 



By the death of Sir George Birdwood, on June 28, 

 at the age of eighty-four, the Anglo-Indian services 

 have lost a notable personality. He joined the Indian 

 Medical Service in 1854, and after taking part in the 

 expedition to the Persian Gulf, he was appointed to a 

 professorship in the Grant Medical College at Bom- 

 bay, which was destined to be the scene of his Indian 

 official life. He cultivated friendly relations with ail 

 classes of natives, and contributed to the Times of. 

 India. Finally, after serving as Sheriff of Bombay, j 

 his health broke down, and he left India in 1868, never! 

 to return. His administrative ability and fine taste in, 

 Indian art secured him a post at the India Office 

 where he was occupied in organising several exhib; 

 tions in which Oriental arts and crafts took a pro- 

 minent place. For these services he was rewardec 

 with a knighthood and the order of K.C.I.E. Hi 

 scientific reputation rests on his work on the flora o 

 Bombay, and his researches into the varieties of Bo?- 

 wellia and other sources of Oriental gums and resin? 

 He left few contributions to literature of permanent 

 value, but he was a clever journalist, able to discuss 

 many subjects with wit and vivacity, though his view- 



