July 19, 191 7] 



NATURE 



409 



has no power to do it. Almost all courses of lectures 

 are thus interrupted, and it is possible to conduct only 

 some laboratory exercises and examinations. The 

 students themselves take a larg^e part in the different 

 revolutionary organisations, and also make donands 

 to have the direction and control of all the affairs 

 of universities and institutes. The future of our seats 

 of learning seems precarious indeed, as there are no 

 visible sig^s of <M-der succeeding the general anarchy, 

 which, as of course )"ou know from the daily paf)ers, 

 reigns everywhere supreme." 



It was suggested In Xature of May 24 (p. 250) that 

 the atmospheric conditions in this season of the year 

 would probably favour observations on the transmis- 

 sion to this country of the sound of firing from the 

 Western front. This anticipation has been realised, 

 for on several occasions during- the past six weeks the 

 reports of continuous distant firing have been noticed 

 in the London district. Dr. H. S. .^llen, who previ- 

 ously recorded hearing the sounds from Chessington, 

 informs us that sounds of bombardment were noticed 

 by several observers at New Maiden on June 3, 4, 

 and 5. More recently he has heard the characteristic 

 sounds on several occasions from Graflfham Common, 

 in West Sussex. The common lies between Petworth 

 and Midhurst, on the north side of the South Downs. 

 The reports are usually most distinct in the evening, 

 and were heard ven.- clearly on the still evenings of 

 June 21 and 22. The German bombardment on the 

 Nieuport front on July 10 accounts for the specially 

 distinct reports heard from 5 p.m. on that date. The 

 Evening Standard of July 11 states that between 

 Horsham and West Grihstead the terrific gunfire in 

 Flanders was heard more distinctly on the previous 

 day than at any time during the war. The reports 

 can be recognised readily by the frequency of their 

 occurrence, the usual interval between successive 

 reports being- only a few seconds, and by the peculiar 

 character of the concussion, which may be said to be 

 felt ra*^her than heard. .According to a corresjiondent 

 of the Manchester Guardian (July 12), persons on the 

 hig^her ground to the north of London heard " the 

 strange, heavy sound, that was like the oiuflBed slam- 

 ming of colossal doors." Further evidence with re- 

 gard to the sound of the Messines mines is given in 

 the first German account of the battle (quoted in the 

 Times for July 14). The most marked feature of the 

 explosion, according to an obser\-er one kilometre from 

 the northernmost mine, was the movement of the 

 ground. The blow was accompanied "by a terrible 

 crash, not so ver}- loud, but so pov.erful and of such 

 a kind as has never been heard after the explosion of 

 the heaviest enemy shell or mine torpedo." 



Owing to conditions resulting from the existing 

 war, the International Exchange Service of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, of Washington, is temporarily dis- 

 continued to almost all the countries of Europe and 

 to India. 



.At a meeting of the council of the Ray Society held 

 on July 12, Dr. B. Daydon Jackson, vice-president, in 

 the chair, the resignation as treasurer of Dr. DuCane 

 Godman on account of ill-health was announced. The 

 thanks of the council for his services during the past 

 fourteen years were accorded to him, and Dr. S. F. 

 Harmer was elected treasurer in his place. 



Dr. J. Scott Keltie has retired from the editorship 

 of the Geographical Journal, a position which he re- 

 tained jointly with Mr. A. R. Hinks since his retire- 

 ment from the secretar\ship of the Royal Geograph- 

 ical Society two years ago. The Journal was founded 

 in its present shape in 1893, a year after Dr. Keltie 

 became assistant secretary and editor. On his retire- 

 XO. 2490, VOL. 99] 



' ment, after thirty-two years in the service of the 

 j society, Dr. Keltie has been elected a member of the 

 i council and awarded the society's Victoria medal for 

 ' geographical research. 



The death is announced, at the age of seventy- 

 eight, of Dr. J. M. Crafts. A graduate of the Law- 

 rence Scientific School at Harvard, he studied 

 chemistry afterwards at Freiberg, Heidelberg, and 

 Paris. For manj' years he occupied a chair of chemis- 

 try in Cornell University^ and from 1898 to 1900 he 

 was president of the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology. Since the latter date he had been en- 

 gaged in chemical research in Boston. In 1885 Dr. 

 Crafts was awarded the Jecker prize by the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, and was made a chevalier of 

 the Legion of Honour. He had published researches 

 upon organic silicium compounds, arsenic, ethers, 

 studies in thermometr)-, cstalytic reactions in con- 

 centrated solutions, etc. 



Prof. E. G. Hill, principal of Muir College, L'ni- 

 versity of Allahabad, died on June 28 at Naini Tal, 

 India, at the age of forty-fi\-e. He was the son of the 

 Rev. George Hill, D.D., of Nottingham, and was 

 educated at Leeds, and later at Magdalen College, 

 Oxford, whence he entered in 1895 t^^ Indian Educa- 

 tional Serx'ice as professor of chemistry at Muir Col- 

 lege. Shc«-tly afterwards he became a fellow of .Alla- 

 habad University, and the dean of the science faculty, 

 and in 1913 was appointed principal of his college. He 

 contributed a number of original papers on a variety 

 of chemical subjects to the Transactions of the Chem- 

 ical Society- between the years 1903 and 1907. .\mong 

 these may be mentioned :■ — ^.Analysis of reh (natural 

 alkaline salts) ; hydrolysis of ammonia salts by water ; 

 the coloured constituents of Butea Jrondosa; and a 

 new colouring m.atter from Nyclanthes arbor tristis. 

 He also acted as metecwologist to the United Provinces 

 Government. 



Orxithologists will learn with a mixture of regret 

 and pride of the death of Mr. Eric B. Dunlop, who 

 was killed in action on May 19. Born and brea in the 

 Lake District — he was the eldest son of Mr, A. B. 

 Dunlop, J. P., of Windermere — ^his innate love of birds 

 found an exceptionally fine field fcH- development, and 

 he made the most of his opportunities, especially in 

 regard to disaf>f)earing species, like the common buz- 

 zard, peregrine falcon, and raven. On the outbreak of 

 war he was engaged upon a study of the nesting 

 habits of birds in northern Manitoba, and coupled these 

 investigations with a no less careful study of the fur- 

 bearing mammals of Canada in regard to their 

 seasonal changes and variation. In 1915 he decided 

 to suspend his work and take his place in the fighting 

 line, and accordingly enlisted in the 78th Canadian 

 Grenadiers. But on his arrival in England he trans- 

 ferred to the Border Regiment, and was in France 

 barely a month before he fell. We who are left have 

 lost a comrade whom we could ill spare. 



It will be remembered that in Nature f or Januan.- 25 

 of this year Prof. Eugenio Rignano had a letter cw 

 a suggested " quadruple scientific Entente." The 

 French original of this letter also appeared in the 

 Revue genirale des Sciences for January 30, and has 

 given rise to a good deal of discussion. In the Revue 

 for June 15 Prof. E. Gley fully agrees with Prof. 

 Rignano about the malady of the German hegemony of 

 scientific literature, but advances some criticisms on the 

 proposed means of dealing with this evil. Prof. Gley's 

 examples are naturally taken from the literature of that 

 branch of science — physiology — with which he is most 

 familiar; and he points out that the general tendency 

 of nations is to make the publication of scientific work 



