August 2, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



187 



There are medals struck by the East India Company, from 

 1784 onwards, as military decorations ; but it was not 

 until 1847 that the services of British troops between the 

 years 1793 and 1814 received ofiicial recognition. The 

 " Peninsular medal," by W. Wyon, was then issued (No. 

 20). The prettiest of the service decorations of this reign 

 is, perhaps, the medal for Arctic discoveries between 1818 

 and 1855, by L. C. Wyon (No. 14). 



From an artistic point of view it is not unjust to say 

 that nothing but second-rate work has been produced from 

 the beginning of this century until comparatively recent 

 years. An attempt has, however, been made to break 

 through the hide-bound traditions of English medallic art. 

 Notably Prof. Legros has produced a remarkable series of 

 plaques in which a study of better models has left its mark ; 

 but these portraits are treated in a way which makes it 

 unfair to regard them as medallic. The absence of a reverse 

 is one point of distinction ; in the next place the artist 

 has produced something which looks more like a plaster 

 or wax model than a relief in hard material. The result 

 is a vagueness and lack of finish which is pleasing enough 

 in a model in soft material, but irritating in what is 

 supposed to be a completed work which is never to feel the 

 tool again. This style of work is not peculiar to Prof. 

 Legros, but is due to a natural reaction against the lifeless, 

 mechanical style of the Wyons and similar craftsmen. The 

 medal of Lady Julia Grant Duff, designed by the Countess 

 Feodore Gleichen (No. 19), is a praiseworthy attempt at 

 simplicity and reserve, combined with careful workmanship, 

 which has not lost so much as is usual in the mechanical 

 process of production. Other artists have gone straight 

 back to Italian models, without recognizing that the style 

 of the Renaissance is hardly suitable to the present time. 

 But all these are steps in the right direction, and away 

 from the vulgarity of the designs which as yet alone receive 

 encouragement in official quarters. 



*c<tn« Notts. 



The Et. Hon. A. .J. Mundella, M.P., we regret to state, 

 died on the 21st July. Born in 1825, sent to work in 

 a printer's office at the age of ten years, apprenticed two 

 years later to the hosiery trade, and married at nineteen, 

 by the time he was twenty-three years of age he became 

 a partner in the business which was to yield him a fortune. 

 Being self-educated himself, he knew the value of brain 

 power, and a score of years before the existing movement 

 for technical education had begun amongst us he was 

 earnestly advocating the establishment in this country of 

 technical schools. When the movement of the National 

 Education League began, he astonished his townsmen by 

 producing at a meeting an immense number of most care- 

 fully prepared and elaborate statistics respecting education 

 in Germany, and the contrasts it presented with the 

 educational condition of England. In recognition of his 

 services to the interests of science and education generally, 

 Mr. Mundella was elected a Fellow of the Koyal Society. 



^-*^ 



On Sunday, 11th July, 1897, Herr Andrte started on 

 his adventurous balloon voyage, by means of which he 

 hopes to achieve the solution of the mystery surrounding 

 the North Pole. The intrepid explorer is accompanied by 

 Dr. Strindberg and by Dr. Fraenkel, the trio having 

 landed at Spitzbergen on the 30th May. The intiation of 

 the balloon began on 18th June, but unfavourable winds 

 prevailed for many days and delayed the start. The direct 

 line from Spitzbergen across the Polar region is some three 

 thousand four hundred kilometres — about equal to that 



between Madrid and St. Petersburg— but, as a direct 

 passage cannot be hoped for, the distance Andree must 

 travel may extend to twenty thousand kilometres. What 

 the length of time will be in completing this bold scheme 

 can only remain problematical till the adventurers again 

 report themselves, but the supplies of food carried will 

 last about four months. The balloon is of three-fold silk 

 with gutta-percha, and the netting of best Italian hemp. 

 The car, made of basketwork covered with canvas, is some 

 six feet in diameter and four and a half deep. The lower 

 half of it is fitted with baskets for stores of all sorts, and 

 on these there is one bed, the plan being for two of the 

 three men always to be on deck, while the third turns in 

 below for his two hours off duty. While Andree is 

 admittedly a capable engineer, there are many who regard 

 him only as an amateur in meteorology and Polar 

 research — a mere fabricator of hypotheses : a condition of 

 things which attaches to nearly all abnormal projects — 

 and it will be interesting, therefore, to see whether Andree 

 can prove himself to be something more than a dreamer 

 of dreams. 



A committee, consisting of Lord Crawford, Sir Edward 

 Thompson, Sir Benjamin Stone, Prof. Meldola, Captain 

 Abney, and others, has been appointed for the purpose of 

 forming a National Photographic Record Association, the 

 object of which is to be the collecting and making photo- 

 graphic historical records of the British Isles. The 

 trustees of the British Museum have expressed their 

 willingness to take charge of the proposed collection, as 

 they are of opinion that photographic records for the 

 instruction of present and future generations could not 

 fail to be of the greatest value and interest. We are at 

 one with Sir Benjamin Stone, who, in referring to this 

 scheme, said that word description was rapidly giving way 

 to pictorial illustration, and photography had brought to 

 our aid a more plentiful, graphic, and accurate form of 

 pictorial record than that of the most valuable ancient 

 drawing. 



A medal of the highest rarity, and in a beautiful state 

 of preservation, was sold at Christie's recently for £230. 

 It was the CuUoden medal in gold, 1746, by Yeo, with 

 bare bust of the Duke of Cumberland to right. Only four 

 or five specimens are known in gold, and this one was 

 given to General Thomas Gage by the Duke at the battle 

 of Culloden, and it remained in that family onwards till 

 recently. 



Wireless telegraphy at Spezia by Signor Marconi is 

 reported to have been very successful, the longest distance 

 over which signals were transmitted being fifteen kilo- 

 metres. 



Eettcrs. 



[The Editors do not hold themselves responsible for the opinions or 

 statements of correspondents.] 



m 



STAR SYSTEMS AXD THE ICE AGE. 

 To the Editors of Knowledge. 



Sirs, — I find myself involved in controversy to a larger 

 extent than I anticipated, though I have no fault to find 

 with the mode of discussion adopted by either Mr. Back- 

 house or Mr. Hardy. 



As to jjlii/siciil sijstemn, the phrase is somewhat ambiguous. 

 Most people borrow their idea of such a system from the 

 solar system, and apply it to a number of bodies whose 

 motions are mainly dependent on each other, and on whom 



