4So 



NATURE 



[September 13, 1894 



thorough, and, as Clerk Maxwell said in these columns in 

 1S77 (vol. XV. p. jSg^ the thoroughness was that which of 

 itself demands the mastery of many sciences, and in 

 doing so makes its mark on each. He solved problems 

 with which great mathematicians, since the time of Euler, 

 had occupied themselves in vain. Questions as to vortex 

 motion and the discontinuity of motion in liquids, and 

 the vibrations of sound at the open ends of organ pipes, 

 belong to this class of subjects elucidated by him. In 

 his numerous papers on thermodynamics, he reduced to 

 an intelligible and systematic form the labours and 

 intricate investigations of several independent theorists, 

 so as to compare them with each other and with experi- 

 ment. Other subjects investigated by him are electro- 

 dynamics, stereoscopic vision, galvanic polarisation, the 

 theor)' of anomalous dispersion, the origin and meaning 

 of geometrical axioms, the mechanical conditions 

 jjoveming the movements of the atmosphere, the pro- 

 duction of waves, &c. But even the circle of natural 

 and physical sciences does not embrace all the subjects 

 which he benefited by his keen insight and strenuous 

 energy. He was an acute logician and an accomplished 

 metaphysician. His investigations on perception and 

 observation of the senses led him to study the theory of 

 cognition. The principal conclusion he came to after an 

 examination of the subject, was that the impressions of the 

 senses are only signs for the constitution of the external 

 world, the interpretation of which must be learned 

 by experience. 



In 1S91, when Helmholtz reached his seventieth birth- 

 day, the event was made the occasion of an international 

 celebration. In honour of the anniversary, a marble bust 

 was prepared, and numerous marks of respect were 

 bestowed upon him by his admirers, both in and out of 

 his own country. The German Emperor raised him to 

 the highest rank in the Civil Service : the Kings of 

 .Sweden and of Italy, the Grand Duke of Baden, and the 

 President of the Trench Republic conferred Grand 

 Crosses upon him ; many academies, not only of science, 

 but also of the fine arts, faculties, and learned societies 

 representing all parts of the world, sent him diplomas 

 and richly illuminated addresses, expressing their recog- 

 nition of his scientific labours, and their thanks for his 

 work. His native town, Potsdam, conferred its freedom 

 upon him, and countless individuals sent their congratu- 

 lations. It was on the occasion of this jubilee that 

 Helmholtz delivered the autobiographical sketch pub- 

 lished in the second volume of his "Scientific Lectures," 

 and which has furnished us with some of the particulars 

 contained in the foregoing. He was made a Foreign 

 Member of the Royal Society in iS6o, and received the 

 Copley Medal in 1873. He was also one of the .-Vssocics 

 IJrangers of the Paris Academy of Sciences, and a 

 correspondent of most important scientific academies 

 and societies all over the world. 



Science has had few investigators who have furthered 

 her interests more than Helmholtz. He was constantly 

 exploring new fields of research, or bringing his keen 

 intellect to bear upon old ones. With his contributions 

 he helped to raise science to a higher level. And, while 

 he did as much as anyone to render scientific discoveries 

 understandable to the whole intellectual world, he always 

 recognised that he was in the service of something that 

 should be held everlastingly sacred, a feeling which kept 

 him from playing to the gallery either in his popular 

 works or in his lectures. Many years ago, it w.is written — 



'' A wise man instrucleth his people, and the fruits of 

 his understanding fail not." 



" A wise man shall inherit glory among his people, 

 and his n.ame shall be perpetual." 



To no one could these words be more appropriately 

 applied than to the eminent investigator whose loss we 

 now deplore. 



NO. I 298, VOL. 50] 



NOTES. 



We note with deep regret that Prof. H. K. Brugscb, the 

 distinguished philologist and Egyptologist, died on Sunday 

 last, at the age of sixty-seven. 



I The Deputy- Mastership of the Mint, vacated by the resig- 

 nation of Sir C. Fremantle, K.C.B., will be filled at once by 

 the appointment of a distinguished official, Mr. Horace Sey- 

 mour, Deputy-Chairman of the Board of Customs. If the 



' post had been destined for a scientific man, it wouKl doubtless 



. have been given to Prof. Roberts-Austen, C.B., but his accept- 

 ance of it would have involved his resignation of his chair at 



' the Royal College of Science. The due discharge of the duties 



] of the Deputy-Mastership would, moreover, have left him far 

 less opportunity for research than he has in his present office 

 at the Mint, which he has made such an important one 

 for science. Sir Charles Fremantle has always encouraged 

 original research in his Department, and we wish him much 



] happiness in his well-earned retirement. 



I The death of the Comte de Paris recalls the fact that he was 

 a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was elected by ballot on 

 April 27, 1S65, and signed the charier boolt on .May 18 of the 



i same year. Under the statutes which were then in force, any 

 foreign sovereign prince or the son of a sovereign prince could 

 be proposed for immedi.ite ballot if ke wished to enter the 

 Society. In the case of the Comte de Pans it was found that, 

 according to the strict letter of the statutes, the head and repre- 

 sentative of a Royal house might be inadmissible by privileged 

 election, whilst members of the same family of inferior rank 

 were entitled to it. Although he was the hereditary represen- 

 tative of the then late King of the French, yet inasmuch as his 

 father had not been a "sovereign prince," the Society was 

 precluded from extending the courtesy of election, and therefore 

 took steps to amend the statute, and upon being advised that 

 Court usage would accord, introduced words establishing the 

 privilege to "any foreign prince who is received by Iier Majesty 

 as Imperial Highness, or Royal Highness." It was under such 

 an amended statute that the unanimous election of the Comte 

 de Paris occurred. 



The death of Prof, losiah Parsons Cooke, LL.D. , which 

 look place in Boston, .Massachusetts, on Tuesday, is, says ihe 

 Times, not simply a loss to Harvard University, where he has 

 laboured for more than forty-four years, but to the scientific 

 world at large. Ilis work on "The New Chemistry " is well 

 known and highly esteemed, and has been translated into nearly 

 every language of Europe. Born in 1827, he gi.Tduated from 

 Harvard in iS^S. In the following year he became tutor in 

 mathematics, afterwarJs instructor in chemistry, and in 1S50 

 Erving Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy at Harvard. 

 Under his direction the course in chemistry was greatly 

 developed. He was the first in .-Vmerica to introduce labora- 

 tory instruction into the undergraduate course. In addition to 

 his duties at Harvard, it was his practice to give courses of 

 popular lectures on chemistry in the cities of Baltimore, Brook- 

 lyn, Washington, Lowell, and Worcester, besides his regular 

 lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston. As director of the 

 chemical laboratory at Harvard he has published numerous 

 contributions to chemical science, most of which have been 

 collected and published in a volume entitled "Chemical and 

 Physical Researches." In 1S72 he was elected an honorary 

 Fellow of the Chemical Society, sharing that distinction with 

 only one other American ; and in 18S2 he was gianted the 

 degree of LL.D. by Cambridge University. 



The death is announced of Sir Edward .Augustus Inglefield, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., at the age of seventy-four. The following 

 particulars as to his scientific work are extracted from .in 



