May 26, 1892] 



NATURE 



85 



concurrence of the Minister of Finance, Stas resolutely 

 resisted a scheme he considered dangerous to the in- 

 terests of the nation. With a change of Ministry the 

 proposed measure was carried. Stas forthwith resigned 

 his post in the Mint, preferring to sacrifice emolument 

 rather than countenance a step which he knew to be 

 detrimental. 



Stas not unfrequently engaged in tasks which appeal 

 more directly to the popular mind than the determination 

 of atomic weights. In 1850, Belgium was thrown into 

 excitement by a poisoning case not less sensational than 

 that of Palmer in our own country. It has been said of 

 Belgium that it is less permissible to knock down an 

 onvrier than to murder a nobleman. A Count Bocarme 

 had poisoned his brother-in-law. Had the crime in 

 question been committed by one of the people, it might, 

 if not condoned, have been inquired into in a somewhat 

 perfunctory manner. But as the only man to whom 

 suspicion pointed was an aristocrat, a searching inves- 

 tigation was demanded by an indignant public. The 

 chemical investigation conducted by Stas was performed 

 in a masterly manner. The unerring chemist not only 

 detected nicotine poison, but also the exact quantity 

 which had been administered. The guilt of Count 

 Bocarme was much more satisfactorily established than 

 that of Palmer in the Rugeley case. 



With characteristic thoroughness Stas was not satisfied 

 with the mere detection and quantitative determination 

 of nicotine. He elaborated a general method for the 

 recognition of organic poisons in chemico-legal inves- 

 tigations. His method of detection, revised and perfected 

 by Julius Otto, is still in general use among toxicologists, 

 under the name of the Stas-Otto process. 



At the London International Exhibition of 1862, to 

 Stas was intrusted the report on the industry of oils and 

 fats. The question was discussed whether the old method 

 of saponification by means of alkalies or the recently in- 

 vented acid saponification was to be preferred. The ex- 

 periments of Stas demonstrated not only the superiority 

 of the acid process from an economical point of view, 

 but supplied the industrial world with the working details 

 of a method still followed by the manufacturers of 

 stearine candles. 



At the initial meeting of the International Committee 

 of Weights and Measures held at Paris in 1875, Stas 

 appeared as the Belgian representative, and took a very 

 active part in its labours. From 1877 to 1879 he was 

 associated partly with H. Ste. Claire Deville, and partly 

 with C. J. Broch in the selection of the metals to be used 

 as standards or prototypes for weights and measure.s. 

 The alloy selected consisted of 90 per cent, of platinum, 

 and 10 per cent, of iridium. The reports are rich in 

 important observations on the properties of the platinum 

 metals. Unfortunately they have been published, so far 

 as the writer is aware, only in \\vt. Proch-Verbattx du 

 Coniite International cies Poids et Mcsures, documents 

 not readily accessible. The results have still to iind their 

 way into the te.Kt-books and metallurgical manuals. 



But other labours of the illustrious Belgian chemist 

 have still to be unearthed. At the request of his Govern- 

 ment he carried out important researches on metallic 

 alloys for the manufacture of heavy artillery. His copious 

 reports are said to be buried in the archives of the 

 Belgian War Department. 



In one quarter only did Stas encounter ill will. He was 

 a champion of the freedom of research and of the in- 

 dependence of the Universities. Hence he came into 

 frequent collision with the "clerical party," which in 

 Belgium plays a role similar to that of the ethicists and 

 self-constituted " ami- " Societies in Britain. 



On January i, 189 1, at the King's New Year reception 

 he courageously reminded the Ministry of the respect 

 which a Government owes to science. We regret we have 

 not met with the text of this discourse, which would be 



NO. 1 1 78, VOL. 46] 



vvorth reproduction in England. The insulting replies to 

 the bold utterance of Stas were drowned in the loud and 

 general approval of the country. 



It is pleasant to add that the personal character of Stas 

 was in harmony with his scientific pre-eminence. He 

 was a man of whom it could be said, " Nihil tetigit quod 

 non ornavit." It was one of his great distinctions that, 

 unlike many illustrious men of science, he was not followed 

 to the grave by the ghosts of dead theories. 



NOTES. 



Men of science were glad to see that the list of those on 

 whom birthday honours were conferred included Dr. John 

 Evans, who has become a K.C.B. ; Mr. W. T. Thiselton 

 Dyer, who has been made a CLE. ; and Mr. H. H. Howorth, 

 who has been made a K.C.I.E. 



The annual visitation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich 

 will take place on Saturday, June 4. 



The Secretary of the British Association Committee for 

 arranging for the occupation of a table at the laboratory of the 

 Marine Biological Association, at Plymouth, requests us to 

 announce that applications for the use of the table during the 

 present summer should be addressed to him (Mr. S. F. Harmer, 

 King's College, Cambridge) not later than Friday, June 10. 



Mr, Walter Garstang, M.A., Berkeley Fellow of the 

 Owens College, Manchester, and formerly assistant to the 

 Director of the Marine Biological Association, has been 

 appointed to a naturalist's post upon the staff of the Marine 

 Biological Association at Plymouth, and will have charge of the 

 dredging and collecting operations conducted at the station. 



In the fifth Annual Report of the Liverpool Marine Biology 

 Committee (December 1891), Prof. Herdman suggested that the 

 marine biological station might with advantage be changed from 

 Puffin Island to some more easily accessible part of the district, 

 where a fresh area could be investigated. After a careful con- 

 sideration of several sites, the Committee decided upon Port Erin, 

 at the south end of the Isle of Man, and a suitable building for a 

 marine laboratory, of three rooms, has now been erected, on the 

 beach immediately below the Bellevue Hotel, from plans pre- 

 pared by Prof. Herdman. This laboratory being ready for 

 workers, and a number of members of the Liverpool Biological 

 and other scientific societies, and also of the Isle of Man Natural 

 History and Antiquarian Society, having expressed an interest 

 in the progress of the undertaking, the Committee have resolved 

 to inaugurate the station by a formal opening on Saturday, 

 June 4. The Lieutenant-Governor of the Island, Mr. Spencer 

 Walpole, has consented to perform the ceremony ; and His 

 Excellency, and the Bishop of Sodor and Man, have accepted 

 the invitation of the Committee to be present at a luncheon to 

 be given at the Bellevue Hotel on the occasion. 



The Puffin Island Biological Station has been taken over by 

 several members of the staff of the University College of North 

 Wales, Bangor, and will be worked henceforth in connection 

 with that College. Dr. Philip White, the lecturer on zoology, 

 has been appointed director of the station. The island is in full 

 view of, and within easy reach of, the College. The station, as 

 formerly, will be entirely supported by voluntary contributions. 



The Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood's Holl, Massa- 

 chusetts, will be open for investigators from June I to August 

 30. The demand for tables at the laboratory has been so great 



