528 



NATURE 



[August 30, 19 17 



as an independent department, he was respons- 

 ible for the expeaditure of more than two million 

 dollars. He was also entrusted with the represen- 

 tation of Maryland on the re-survey of the bound- 

 ary between that State and Pennsylvania. He was 

 executive officer of the Maryland Forestry Board, 

 and took an active share in the replanning- of Bal- 

 timore after the great fire in 1904. Meanwhile he 

 had been continuously active in the development of 

 the mineral resources of Maryland and in various 

 spheres of educational and philanthropic work. 



His death will be deplored in this country by 

 many friends who knew the charm of his per- 

 sonality and by the still wider circle who knew of 

 his success in scientific administration. 



NOTES. 



Two new orders have been instituted by the King 

 in recognition of services rendered by British subjects 

 and their Allies in connection with the war, viz. the 

 Order of the British Empire and the Order of the 

 Companions of Honour. The Order of the British 

 Empire has five classes, viz. :— Men : (i) Knights 

 Grand Cross (G.B.E.); (2) Knights Commanders 

 (K.B.E.); (3) Commanders (C.B.E.); (4) Officers 

 (O.B.E.); (5) Members (M.B.E.). Women : (i) Dames 

 Grand Cross (G.B.E.); (2) Dames Commanders 

 (D.B.E.); (3) Commanders (C.B.E.); (4) Officers 

 (O.B.E.); (5) Members (M.B.E.). The first two 

 classes, in the case of men, carry the honour of knight- 

 hood, and in the case of women the privilege of pre- 

 fixing the title " Dame " to their names. The first lists 

 of appointments to the orders have just been issued, 

 and among those named we notice the following :■ — To 

 the Order of the British Empire : Lord Moulton and 

 Lord Sydenham (G.B.E.); Mr. Dugald Clerk, Prof. 

 H. S. Jackson, and Mr. R. Threlfall (K.B.E.); Dr. 

 Garrett Anderson, Prof. H. B. Baker, Mr. L. Bair- 

 stow, Prof. W. H. Bragg, Prof. S. J. Chapman, Mr. 

 W. Duddell, Mr. F. W. Harbord, Prof. F. W. Keeble, 

 Dr. Marv A. D. Scharlieb» and Prof. J. F. Thorpe 

 (C.B.E.); Prof. J. C. McLennan (O.B.E.). The fol- 

 lowing have, among others, been appointed Com- 

 panions of Honour : The Hon. E. Strutt and Prof. 

 Ripper. 



A COMMITTEE to inquire into various matters con- 

 nected with the personnel and administration of the 

 Army medical services has been appointed by the 

 Secretary of State for War. The committee is corn- 

 posed of Major-General Sir F. Howard (chairman), Sir 

 Rickman J. Godlee. Bart., Sir Frederick Taylor, Bart., 

 Sir W. Watson-Chevne, Bart., Dr. Norman Walker, 

 Lieut.-Col. A. J. Stiles, Dr. Buttar, and Dr. J. B. 

 Christopherson (secretary) It will begin its work in 

 France, and afterwards carry out similar investiga- 

 tions in this country. 



We regret to "-ee the announcement of the death, at 

 the age of seventy years, of Major A. N. Leeds, the 

 palaeontologist, which occurred on Saturday last. 



The death is announced, at the age of seventy-three 

 years, of Mr. Donald Maclennan, well known as a 

 breeder of pedigree stock. 



We regret to record the death of Mr. Walter E. 

 Archer, which occurred suddenly on August 19 at 

 Sand, Norway, at the age of sixtv-two. Mr. Archer 

 was successively Inspector of Salmon Fisheries for 

 Scotland (1892-98), Chief Inspector of Fisheries under 

 the Board of Trade (1898-1903), and Assistant Secre- 

 tary in charge of the Fisheries Department of the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries (1903-12). When 

 NO. 2496, VOL. 99] 



in Scotland Mr. Archer, in association with Prof. Noel 

 Paton, Mr. J. R. Tosh, and others, instituted a series- 

 ot investigations on the salmon, which helped to- 

 elucidate a number of points which were still obscure 

 in the life-history of that fish. In London Mr. Archer 

 devoted great attention to the development of a more 

 efficient system for the collection and subsequent study 

 of the statistics of English sea fisheries, and the very 

 valuable work in that direction now done by the Board 

 of Agriculture and Fisheries is chiefly due to his- 

 initiative. He was for a number of years a British 

 delegate to the International Council for the Investiga- 

 tion of the Sea, and president of that body from 1909 

 to 1912. 



The science staff at Christ's Hospital has again 

 suffered severely from the war by the death on active 

 service of Lieut.-Col. T. H. Boardman, who died of 

 wounds on August 4. Col. Boardman joined the school 

 when it was removed to Horsham in 1902, and was one 

 of the four masters appointed to establish and develop 

 a science department under the new conditions. His. 

 previous experience as science master at Blair Lodge,, 

 following a brilliant career at Bury Grammar School 

 and at Feterhouse, Cambridge, was invaluable in the 

 pioneer work of winning for science a footing in a 

 public school of classical traditions. Adopting essen- 

 tially the heuristic method, he proved himself to be 

 a teacher of the highest order, with a power of con- 

 trol and organisation that contributed in no small 

 degree to the success and popularity of the new depart- 

 ment. Although he was co-editor with Mr. \Vm. 

 French in a school text-book on chemistry, physics 

 was his special forte, and before he left to take up 

 his commission as Major in the Royal Fusiliers on 

 the outbreak of war, he had brought his laboratory 

 to a high state of efficiency. Originality and 

 thoroughness were stamped on everything he under- 

 took, and many were the ingenious devices he invented 

 for illustrating the principles of the various branches 

 of phj'sics dealt with. For many years he carried out 

 with some of his classes an interesting scheme of 

 agricultural experiments, the results of which he 

 utilised as a basis for much useful work in the labora- 

 tory. "'A hero and a gentleman," one of his officers 

 writes of him, loved and respected by all who knew 

 him, his willing sacrifice for King and country is a 

 loss to the school immeasurable, and to his wide circle 

 of friends a sorrow beyond expression. 



The death is announced, in his forty-sixth year, of 

 Prof. Albert F. Ganz, holder of the chair of electrical 

 engineering since 1902 at the Stevens Institute of Tech- 

 nology, Hoboken, N.J. Prof. Ganz had previously held 

 the post of assistant professor of physics and applied 

 electricity at the same institution. He had specialised 

 in electric lighting and in the investigation of the corro- 

 sion of underground structures by electrolysis, on which 

 subjects he had contributed largely to American tech- 

 nical journals. 



Donations and promises towards the Ramsay 

 Memorial Fund received by the honorary treasurers 

 amount so far to 21,352^., including 835Z. from mem- 

 bers of the British Science Guild; 500Z. from Sir 

 George Beilby, and lool. each from Lord Rosebery, 

 the Company of Clothworkers, and the Salt Union, 

 Ltd. Prof. Orme Masson, of the University of Mel- 

 bourne, has undertaken to act as the representative 

 and corresponding member of the committee for Aus- 

 tralia. As already announced. Prof. C. Baskerville, of 

 the College of the City of New York, is acting in a 

 similar capacity for the United States. 



Several letters on the sound of gunfiring have ap- 

 peared in the Times (August 22, 24, and 25), following 

 I the interesting letter by Mr. G. F. Sleggs, the greater 



