SEPTEMliKK 5, 1895J 



NA TURE 



443 



later Permian relations, while the Protopity;c of the Culm 

 are more ancient allies, with similar characteristics. We 

 thus learn how far back \vc must go, in the scries of 

 geological formations, in order to meet with the last 

 traces of the connnon ancestors of those classes in the 

 vegetable kingdom which are now living. 



I}y his discovery of .\rchegoniatc plants with secondar>' 

 growth, Williamson however came into collision with the 

 doctrines of .-\dolphe IJrongniart, otherwise so highly 

 re\-erenced by him, who held this character to be an 

 absolute criterion of the Phanerogams, and denied the 

 possibility of its occurrence in other classes of the 

 vegetable kingdom. Hence a literary feud arose between 

 Williamson and B. Renault, Brongniart's distinguished 

 pupil. The latter endeavoured to pro\ e that Williamson 

 was in error in the identification of liis Lepidodcndra, that 

 they were really .Si<^i//a>i(C, and together with the latter 

 belonged to the Gymnosperms, while the truly Arche- 

 goniatc Lcpidodcndra were destitute of any secondary 

 growth. The answer was not long in coming ; proof was 

 heaped on proof, until ultimately the real state of the case 

 was made completely clear. In all essential points 

 victory was on the side of our author. Other subsidiary 

 differences respecting Stiginaria, the Calamariea;, iSic, 

 require no more than a mention here. 



It was thus made evident by Williamson that cambial 

 growth in thickness is a character which has appeared 

 repeatedly in the most various families of the vegetable 

 kingdom, and was by no means acquired for the first time 

 by the Phanerogamic stock. This is a general botanical 

 result of the greatest importance and the widest bearing. 

 In this conclusion Paheontology has, for the first time, 

 spoken the decisive word in a purely botanical question. 

 The result has proved well worth the great trouble and 

 labour which had to be gone through in order to attain it. 



It would be difficult to conceive a more magnificent 

 monument to Williamson than one which he himself set 

 up at Manchester, in one of the halls of the Owens 

 College Museum. 



In the year 1887 there was discovered in a quarr)' near 

 Bradford, a gigantic petrified tree-stump, which, when 

 carefully exposed, was found to run out at the base into a 

 widely-spreading system of ramifications of a Stig- 

 marian character. In the quarrv' this precious relic, like 

 many others before it, would in a very short time have 

 fallen a victim to destruction by weather and the hand of 

 man. Williamson, however, acquired it by purchase, had 

 it carefully subdivided into numerous pieces, and brought 

 it home safe and complete to Manchester. This was not 

 accomplished without the greatest personal exertions 

 and a considerable expenditure of money (to which 

 several friends contributed), for there were whole 

 waggon-loads of material to be removed. Then the 

 first thing which had to be done was to secure from 

 the I'uiversity authorities the necessary space for erect- 

 ing the fossil. This was not an easy matter, and great 

 opposition had to be overcome, as we can easily under- 

 stand on looking at the specimen, which measures over 

 29 feet in diameter. 



Finally it was fitted together, piece by piece, and fixed 

 in its natural position, resting on a massive pedestal of 

 brickwork. I'he fiery youthful zeal of a man already over 

 ■-event)-, overcame all the diflSculties that arose. People 

 were astonished at the unusual development of energy 

 which this Stigiiuiria had caused, and ga\e it, in good- 

 hunioined jest, the name of '• Williamson's Folly.' 

 "Williamson's Folly " may now be reckoned among the 

 eights of luigland, and Manchester may be proud of 

 possessing it, for it represents a last gift, worthy of all 

 honour, from the deceased, to the place which for so 

 many years was his home and the scene of his activity. 



The author of this notice, who only knew Williamson 

 during the last years of his life, must not attempt to 

 picture to those who lived with him his kindly and 



NO. 1349, VOL. 52] 



benevolent nature, which always retained the freshness of 

 youth, or his simple character. That would be a work of 

 supererogation, for the whole of scientific England knew 

 and respected him, and wherever he went he was a wel- 

 come and honoured guest. The writer can only report, 

 in all brevity, on the work of Williamson's life, and when 

 asked to undertake this, it was with pleasure that he took 

 up his pen for that purpose. Solms-Laubach. 



NOTES. 

 The resignation of Dr. Albert GUnlher, F. R.S., of the post 

 of Keeper of Zoology at the Natural History Museum, South 

 Kensington, is announced. Dr. Giinther has occupied for over 

 thirty years the position he now vacates. 



The "Swiney" Lecturer this year is Dr. J. G. Garson, who 

 will lake as the subject of the twelve lectures he purposes giving, 

 " The Geological History of Man." The lectures, admission to 

 which will be free, are to be delivered in the lecture theatre of 

 the .South Kensington Museum on Mondays, Wednesdays and 

 F'ridays, at five P.M., beginning on Friday, October 4. 



We have to record the death of two prominent members of 

 the medical profession abroad, viz. Dr. Pasquale Landi, Professor 

 of Clinical Surgery successively in the Universities of Siena, 

 Bologna, and Pisa, and Dr. Texier, Professor of Internal 

 Pathology in the Medical School of Algiers. 



Mr. Charles Mitchell, whose death, at the age of seventy- 

 five, occurred on Avigust 22, was a well-known engineer and 

 shipbuilder. He founded the Walker shipbuilding yard on the 

 Tyne.^a yard which under his guidance developed into one of the 

 largest in the country. In 18S2 it was merged into the Elswick 

 Company of the present Lord Armstrong, and up to the time of 

 his death Mr. Mitchell practically superintended the whole of 

 the shipbuilding work of the Company. 



The Atheiutuni says that during the autumn of this year a 

 monument is to be unveiled at Osteel, in East F'riesland, in 

 memory of the discoverers of the sun"s spots, David and Johann 

 Fabricius. The site chosen is the place in the cemetery where 

 the grave of the elder F'abricius was discovered about nine years 

 ago. 



We are informed by Prof. John Milne, that communications 

 respecting the Transaitions of the Seismological Society, and 

 the Snismoio^cal /oiiriial, may be addressed to him at .Shide 1 lill 

 House, Shide, Newport, Isle of Wight, at which place a small 

 station has been established to record earthquakes having their 

 origin in distant localities, and other unfelt movements of the 

 earth's surface. 



The annual general meeting of the Federated Institution of 

 .Mining Engineers will beheld in North Staftordshire, at Shel- 

 ton, Stoke-upon-Trent, on September iS and 19, when papers 

 on " The Depth to Productive Coal-measures between the 

 Warwickshire and Lancashire Coal-fields," " Gold-mining in 

 Nova Scotia," "The Use of Steel Girders in Mines,'" "Economic 

 Minerals of the Province of Ontario, Canada," and " The Bhist- 

 ing I'fiiciency of Exi)losives " are expected to be read, and a. 

 discussion of various papers which have already appeared in the 

 Traiisadions of the Institution may take place. A number of 

 excursions are also arranged. 



The fifth quadrennial meeting of the International Congress 

 of Otology will take place at F'lorence, under the presidency of 

 Dr. V. Grazzi, from September 23 to 26. Various discussions 

 will be opened by Dr. Barr of Glasgow, Dr. C.elli of Paris, 

 Prof. Gradenigo of Turin, Prof. .\. Politzer of Vienna, and Dr. 

 Secchi of Bologna ; and there are in the complete programme, 



