298 



NATURE 



[July 28, 1892 



continuous-current machines, and the latest form of 

 Mordey's alternator. 



The inclusion of a larger number of thoroughly prac- 

 tical examples of dynamo specification and construction 

 would also be an improvement. 



On the whole, Signor Ferrini's book seems the out- 

 come of an earnest endeavour to give an accurate and 

 full account in moderate compass of an important and 

 difficult subject. It will be more easy to judge of the full 

 measure of the author's success when the work is com- 

 pleted. In any case the book seems likely to be a credit 

 to Italian technical literature. A. Gray. 



MR. A. NORMAN TATE. 

 "D Y the death of Mr. A. Norman Tate, F.I.C., Liverpool 

 ■^ has lost one of her most prominent citizens and men 

 of science. It is not only as an able analytical chemist 

 that Mr. Tate will be missed by a large section of the 

 public to whom his genial presence was familiar, but as a 

 scientific teacher and pioneer of the technical education 

 movement in Lancashire, his place is one that will not 

 -easily be filled. For some time past Mr. Tate has had 

 indifferent health, and has had to give up much of his 

 active work in connection with the Society of Chemical 

 Industry, of whose Publication Committee he was a 

 member, and the numerous local and other learned 

 societies to which he gave great aid. Latterly, symptoms 

 of an ulcerous tumour in the stomach presented them- 

 selves, from which he died on the 22nd instant. 



Mr. Norman Tate was a native of Wells, Somerset, 

 and came to Liverpool about thirty-five years ago, when 

 he entered the laboratory of the late Dr. Sheridan Mus- 

 pratt. He published several papers bearing on his early 

 researches in the journals of the Chemical Society of 

 London and the Royal Dublin Society. After acting for 

 some years as chemist to the firm of John Hutchinson 

 and Co., of Widnes, he commenced practice as an analyst 

 in Liverpool, and became consulting chemist to several 

 important local bodies and chemical manufactories. At 

 that time the importation of petroleum from America 

 was beginning, and on this subject Mr. Tate became an 

 authority ; one of his works, " Petroleum and its Pro- 

 ducts," being translated and re-published in France and 

 Germany. For a time Mr. Tate superintended the work- 

 ing of oil refineries in the Isle of Man and in Flintshire, 

 where he erected a manufactory for the production of 

 coal and shale oils. In 1870, Mr. Tate, in conjunction 

 with Mr. James Samuelson, undertook the initiation of 

 the Liverpool Science and Art Classes, which grew to 

 be a great educational power in the city. As honorary 

 principal, Mr. Tate had charge of these classes, besides 

 giving lectures himself and teaching several of the classes 

 in chemistry, botany, and general biology. He also 

 instituted the Liverpool Science Students' Association, 

 and the Liverpool District Science and Art Teachers' 

 Association, of both of which bodies he was the first 

 president, a post he also filled in the local Geological 

 Association, Microscopical Society, Liverpool Section of 

 the Society of Chemical Industry, and other institutions, 

 contributing largely to their " Transactions." The " Pro- 

 ceedings" of the Liverpool Geological Society also con- 

 tain many of his papers and memoirs. He discovered 

 the presence of iserine in the decomposed greenstones of 

 the Boulder Clay in the Valley of the Mersey, and showed 

 that the black colour of certain sandstones in the trias in 

 the neighbourhood of Liverpool is due to the grains being 

 coated with peroxide of manganese. 



Mr. Tate was an ardent supporter of every educational 

 movement, especially m connection with science teaching, 

 and his death, at the early age of fifty-six, will be much 

 deplored by a circle of friends extending far beyond the 

 limits of the city which he had made the chief scene of 

 his labours. O. W. J. 



NO. 1187, VOL. 46] 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 

 "PVERYTHING is now practically ready for the meet- 

 •*--' ing of the British Association, which begins next 

 week, and promises to be in every way most successful. 

 Many distinguished foreign men of science — among them 

 Helmholtz, Cremona, and Sachs — are expected to be 

 present. The arrangements made by the local com- 

 mittee we described last week. 



In compliment to the President there will be a specially 

 strong muster of geologists. We hear that a number of 

 professors and others connected with the Geological 

 Survey of France are coming. Baron von Richthofen 

 and Prof Credner will represent the geologists of Ger- 

 many ; Prof Renard those of Belgium. There will 

 be many other representatives from different countries 

 in Europe and from America. The geological excursions 

 will likewise form a prominent feature in the proceedings, 

 and one of these is to be conducted by the President of 

 the Association in person. The Prince of Monaco, well 

 known for his scientific researches, intends to bring his 

 deep-sea dredging vessel to Granton, and to read a paper 

 on the results of his marine surveys ; while two members 

 of his scientific staff will communicate papers on some of 

 the natural history objects obtained by them. Already a 

 large amount of hospitality has been organized, and the 

 meeting bids fair to be as successful in a social as in a 

 scientific way. 



We have already announced that at the meeting of 

 Section A. on Monday, August 8, a discussion on the 

 subject of a national physical laboratory will be opened by 

 Prof Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S. 



A meeting of the Electrical Standards Committee will be 

 held on Thursday, August 4. It is expected that Dr. von 

 Helmholtz, Dr. Lindeck of the BerHn Reichsanstalt, and 

 others interested in electrical measurements, will be pre- 

 sent. A discussion will take place with a view to securing 

 an absolute uniformity in the standards adopted in Eng- 

 land and elsewhere. The following points will be con- 

 sidered: — (i) The value of the B.A. unit in ohms ; 



(2) the specific resistance of mercury in ohms ; 



(3) standardizing by the electrolysis of silver; (4) the 

 electromotive force of a Clark cell ; (5) Report of the 

 Committee for 1892. It is proposed to take the report of 

 the Committee in Section A. on Tuesday, August 9. 

 The draft prepared by the secretary is formal ; but it is 

 hoped that the discussion in the Committee may lead to 

 some resolutions, which will be included in the report. 



The proceedings of Section D. promise to be excep- 

 tionally interesting. The President's address will relate 

 to some qualities of sensation, with special reference to 

 colour sense. On Friday there will be a joint discussion 

 with B. on chemical aspects of the action of Bacteria, 

 which will probably be opened by Prof Marshall Ward. 

 On Monday there will be a discussion on some matters 

 connected with sea-fishes and fisheries, in which the fol- 

 lowing will read short papers or take part :— Sir J. Gibson 

 Maitland, Prof. M'Intosh, Prof Ewart, Dr. FuUon, Prof 

 Herdman, Mr. E. Holt, Mr. R. Smith, Mr. G. Brook, &c. 



NOTES. 



The summer meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers, to which- we referred last week, began at Portsmouth 

 on Tuesday, under Ihe presidency of Dr. William Anderson, 

 F. R. S. The president, council, and members were received by 

 the Mayor, who cordially welcomed them to Portsmouth. 



The British Medical Association's sixtieth annual meeting was 

 opened at Nottingham on Tuesday, the chair being occupied by 

 Dr. W. Withers Moore. In his presidential address Dr. Moore 

 dealt with the progress which has been made in surgery and 

 medicine since 1857, when the Association held its last meeting 

 at Nottingham. 



