August 23, 



1894] 



NA TURE 



401 



plicated aspects and in its connections with the second 

 law of Thermodynamics. Recently he has devoted 

 himself to popularising Maxwell's electromagnetic 

 theory in Germany. 



French physiologists are represented by Prof. Chauveau 

 of Paris. Twoonly of his achievements need be mentioned 

 — his investigations of the movement of the heart, 

 conceived in the same spirit, and pursued with the 

 same desire to search out the secrets of nature that 

 animated our own Harvey; and secondly, his inquiries as 

 to the nature of the process by which infectious diseases 

 are communicated from one individual to another. It 

 would be difticult to estimate which of these is most 

 worthy of our admiration, for whereas the first were ex- 

 periments of light, the others were experiments of fruit, 

 and served, with those of Pasteur and our own Lister, 

 as the foundations of a new science — that of Bacteriology 

 — pregnant with promise for the future welfare of man- 

 kind. 



M. Cornu, Professor of Physics at the Ecole Poly- 

 technique, Paris, is renowned for his numerous experi- 

 mental researches. His investigations on the velocity of 

 light earned for him a high place among exper menters 

 twenty years ago, and his work on the ultra-violet part 

 of the solar spectrum is still the standard of reference. 

 The telluric spectrum also, and the spectrum of hydrogen, 

 have engaged his attention, as well as various problems in 

 astronomical physics. Ikit his investigations have not 

 been confined to optical physics, one of the most im- 

 portant of them being concerned with the determination 

 of the density of the earth. He was elected a Foreign 

 Member of the Royal Society in 1S84, and received the 

 Rumford medal in 1878. 



The career of Prof. Engelmann of Utrecht as an in- 

 vestigator has been very fruitful. His work, like that 

 of Hermann, has related to the vt.xy priiicipia of physio- 

 logy — to those vital endowments which are common to 

 ourselves and to organisms of the simplest structure. 

 These he has studied with a view to the eventual solution 

 of the most elementary, yet the most difficult, problems 

 which living nature presents to the investigator. 



Prof. W. Forster, the Director of the Observatory of 

 Berlin University, is well known for his great activity in 

 furthering astronomical inquiry, both in the institution 

 under his charge and elsewhere. ()uite recently he suc- 

 ceeded in establishing an International Bureau for under- 

 taking and conducting astronomical computations. He 

 has also played an important part in the work of the 

 Geodetic Union. Most of his earliest work belongs to 

 geodesy, a number of carefully-made pendulum observa- 

 tions calling for special mention. By directing attention 

 to luminous clouds, and pointing out the importance of 

 photographing and accurately observing them, he has 

 done a service which will lead to results interesting alike 

 to astronomers and meteorologists. His astronomical 

 works, though not numerous, are such as add to his 

 renown, and, with his /are and active administrative 

 faculty, they single him out as well deserving the honour 

 done to him. 



Prof. Friedel, the eminent occupier of the chair of 

 Organic Chemistry at the Paris Sorbonne, and one of 

 the six members of the Chemistry -Section of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, has carried out numerous mvesti- 

 gations of the highest value. His first work was on the 

 relations between thermo-electric properties and crystal- 

 line form, but his chief researches relate to organic com- 

 pounds, in the synthesis of which he has been very 

 successful. A few of his earlier papers refer to the 

 artificial production of minerals, and he has made some 

 important contributions to the inorganic side of 

 chemistry. 



The name of Prof Hermann of Konigsberg is familiar 

 to students of physiology in all parts of the world, as the 

 author of a general treatise on the subject which has been 

 NO. 1295, VOL. 50] 



translated into every European language. He is also the 

 author of several monographs on special subjects, and of 

 innumerable smaller papers, in each of which some per- 

 manent additions to knowledge are recorded. His investi- 

 gation of the chemical processes which are concerned in 

 muscular contraction, published a quarter of a century 

 ago, and his more recent inquiries as to the electrical 

 concomitants of these processes, constitute the founda- 

 tion of what Physiology is as yet able to teach on these 

 difficult but fundamental questions. 



It was at the Allegheny Observatory, Pennsylvania, 

 that Prof. S. P. Langley began his investigations in solar 

 physics, which have resulted in so great an extension of 

 our knowledge in this direction. About 187S he turned his 

 attention to the question of solar radiation. Finding the 

 thermopile quite inadequate for the work he had under- 

 taken, he was led to invent his now well-known bolometer, 

 with which instrument he has since carried out some very 

 important investigations. After the death of Prof. Henry, 

 he was offered the position of Assistant Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution by Prof. Baird. He removed to 

 Washington, but for a time continued to carry on his 

 work at Allegheny. A few years ago, however, he built 

 a small astro-physical observatory on the grounds of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, and he has there continued and 

 extended his work on the infra-red spectrum of the sun. 

 All mathematicians are familiar with the name of 

 Gosta Mittag-Leftler, Professor of Pure Mathematics in 

 Stockholm University. He is the editor of the authori- 

 ! tative journal Acta Matkcina/iai, devoted to the extension 

 of mathematical knowledge. His work in pure mathe- 

 matics has been of a very varied character, the most 

 noteworthy, perhaps, being concerned with linear 

 differential equations and their integration, and with the 

 theory of the uniforni functions of a variable. 



The Royal Society elected Prof. Georg Quincke of 

 Heidelberg as a Foreign Member in 1879, for his re- 

 searches m physics. He is one of the veterans of 

 science, his first paper having been published so long 

 ago as 1856. All branches of physics have been bene- 

 fited by his careful experimentation and acute reasoning. 

 Few workers, indeed, can claim to have added so much 

 as he to our knowledge of physical laws, or to have 

 studied natural phenomena in a more comprehensive 

 and profound manner. His researches on capillarity, 

 carried on thirty-seven years ago, led up to the important 

 work in which he showed that the movements of amcebaa 

 and protoplasm can be fully explained by physical laws. 

 Prof. Strasburger is Professor of Botany in the Uni- 

 versity of Bonn, having previously been Professor in the 

 University of Jena. He is a Foreign Member of the 

 Royal Society. Having made his mark in Mor- 

 phology by his monumental work on the Gymno- 

 sperms ("Die Coniferen und Gnetaceen," 1872), he has 

 since chiefly devoted himself to the study and investiga- 

 tion of the nucleus of the cell, with special reference to 

 the reproductive processes of plants in their connection 

 with the phenomena of heredity. His researches fill 

 several volumes, such as " Zellbildung und Zelltheilung," 

 " Angiospermen und Gymnospermen," " Unters. ueb. d. 

 Befruchtungsvorgang," and his recent " Histologische 

 Beitriige. ' It is not too much to say that to Prof. Stras- 

 burger's researches is due nearly the whole of our present 

 knowledge of the processes of cell-division in plants. 



Opkni.ng 



SECTION I. 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



Address nv Prok. E. \. Sch.\fer, 

 President of the Section. 



F.R.S., 



Before beginning the sulject matter of my address I had 

 conceived it to be necessary, appearing before you as we do as 

 a new Section, to offer some sort of apology for our presence. 

 But, on looking up the history cf ihe Association, I find that 

 my task is somewhat dift'erent. If I have any apology to offer 



