552 



NA TURE 



[October 4, 1S94 



books was his " Religion and Chemistry," published in 

 1S64, which maintained that the designs of a higher 

 intelligence were to be discovered in the pros'ince of 

 chemistry. Among other books were : " The New 

 Chemistr\-," and its companion volume, " Laboratory 

 Practice," reviewed in Natike, vol. xlvi. p. 99, " The 

 Elements of Chemical Physics," '• The Principles of 

 Chemical Philosophy," and '"Scientific Culture.' 



Prof. Cooke was a highly cultivated man. whose atten- 

 tion was directed to many things outside of his own pro- 

 fession. One of his last publistied papers was written to 

 recommend that scientific men should be educated more 

 broadly. He did not believe in an exclusively scientific 

 education. 



His funeral on September 6 was attended by a group 

 of men and women, whose mere presence was the highest 

 compliment that could be paid to the memory of any 

 man. The successors of Longfellow, Lowell, and the 

 brilliant coterie with which Prof. Cooke was so long a 

 part, were glad of the opportunity to show their love and 

 respect for the man who was all but the last of his 

 generation, there being only a very few of his early 

 contemporaries left. 



.Among the well-known people present were President 

 C. \V. Eliot, Profs. H. B. Hill, \V. \V. Goodwin, Francis 

 h Child, Josiah Royce. C. L. Jackson, G. .A. Bartlett, 

 Edward Cummings, Ira N. Hollis, Dr. Samuel A. 

 Green, Prof. William Watson (one of the secretaries 

 of the American Academy of -Arts and Sciences, of 

 which Prof Cooke was president), Dr. Henry P. Wolcott, 

 and Dr. Benjamin E. Getting. 



NOTES. 



M.t. Fraxk McClean, writing to Dr. Gill, under dite of 

 August 10, has expressed hi> desire to present a large equa- 

 lorially monnled telescope, equipped for photographic and spec- 

 troscopic work, to the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. With this object he has arranged with Sir Howard 

 •irubb for the construction of a photographic refracting tele- 

 scope of 24 inches aperture, and for an object-glass prism lo 

 work with it, having a refracting angle of 7^ degrees and the 

 same aperture as the object-gl.iss. The glass for the object- 

 glass and prism have already been secured, and the definitive 

 order for the instrument was given to Sir Howard Grubb on 

 May 4 last. Coupled with the photographic telescope there is 

 to be a visual refracting tele5cope of 18 inches aperture. The 

 mounting is lo he sufliciently elevated to allow a slit speciro. 

 scope, for the determination of stellar motions in the line of 

 sight, to be attached to the photographic telescope, and the gilt 

 will include such a spectroscope, as well as an observatory of 

 light construction. Subject lo the concurrence of the Lords 

 Commissioners of the AHmirjIty, Dr. Gill has cordially and 

 gratefully accepted thit noble gift to the Cape Observatory. 



Cai T. W. J. Whartov, the hydrographer of the .Admiralty, 

 has lent us a copy of a report, drawn up by Mr. P. W. liissell- 

 Smith, on the results of dredgings obtained on the great 

 bank known as the .Macclesfield liank, in the China 

 Sea. It may safely be asterted that never before h.is the 

 biological condition of a sunken coral reef in mid-sea been 

 so completely explored. One of the gcner.-\l result* of ihc 

 whole examination, hydrographical and zoological, is that on 

 the whole of (he two hundred miles forming the periphery of 

 the bank, there exists a rim of coral in luxurious growth, and 

 at a remarkably even depth below the surface of from ten lo 

 fourteen fathoms. Capl. Wharton poinli out that this even- 

 ness of depth is the most striking feature of the chart, and 

 when the great distances are considered, this appears 10 be a 

 NO. 1301, VOL. 50] 



strong argument .igiinst any movement of the bottom since the 

 aoll forji was assumed. It is at any rate quite evident that 

 from the present time onwards no movement is necessary in 

 order to form in the future a perfect .itoll, the simple growth of 

 the coral on the rim sufficing ; and ih.-it we may Iwve here an 

 ins'an:e of a suitable original foundation for an atoll so formed, 

 as pointed out by Mr. Darwin. .Mr. Bassett-Smith s examin- 

 ation of the specimens was necessarily very cursory, and it is to 

 be hoped that the mass of material collected may be thoroughly 

 investigated by skilled zoologists at the British Museum, that 

 fall value may be obtained for the labour bestowe.1 upon these 

 examinations. The work is so admirable, and the results so 

 important, that we shall return to the subject in a future issue. 



At several London and provincial medical >chools, on 

 Monday last, the opening of the winter session was made the 

 occasion (or introductory addresses to the siudents. Dr. 

 Isambard Owen, at St. George's Hospital, discoursed chiefly 

 on the importance of mental training in medical study. He 

 remsrked that the method of the physician was the method 

 ordinarily empl-iyed in all forms of physical investigation. 

 Science consisted of soundly-drawn conclusions based upon 

 accurately-made observations. Accurate observation was the 

 foundation of all medical work ; and Dr. Owen dwelt at some 

 length on the fallacies of ordinary observation, and the scrupu- 

 lous care needed to ensure exactitude. -At St. Thomas's Hospital, 

 the Rev. W. W. Merry delivered an address mainly concerned 

 with Plato's criticisms upon the practice of medicine and 

 surgery in Homeric times, Mr. G. Hartridge offered practical 

 counsel to the students at Westminster Hospital, and, as an 

 inducement to work, remarked thit " the Royal Society num- 

 bers among its members a large proportion of medical men, 

 a much larger number than all the other professions put 

 together." At Middlesex Hospital, Dr. R. Boxall discoursed 

 upon the relations existing between the public, the medical 

 profession as a whole, and medical charities. Words of ex- 

 hortation and advice were also offered at St. Mary's Hospital, 

 by Dr. S. Spicer, and at University College Hospital, by Prof. 

 H. R. Spencer. Miss M. Sturge advised the students at the 

 London School of Medicine for Women to cultivate from the 

 first a scientific habit of mind, as its possession was invaluable 

 to the medical profession. Lord Bacon's words, " We must be 

 content lo stand before nature and ask questions ; nature can 

 only be subdued by submission," were quoted as a clue to the 

 method of work of all great physicians. 



The Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers has issued 

 alon^ list of subjects up3n which original communications are 

 invctc'l. P.ipcrs upDu any question of professional interest 

 will have their merits considered, even if they do not deal with 

 subjects specific! in the lis;. For approved papers the council 

 has the p>wer to a va'd premiums, arising out of special funds 

 bcqieithed for the purpoie, the particulars of which are as 

 under: — (l) The Telford Fund, left "in trust, the interest 

 to be expenled in annual premiums, under the direction of the 

 council." This bequest (with accumulations of dividends) 

 produce! C^'ii annually. (2) The Manby Donation, of the 

 value of about ;^iO a year, given " to form a fund for an 

 annual premium or premiums for papers read at the meetings." 

 (3) The Miller Fund, bequeathed by the testator "for the 

 purpose of forming a fund for providing premiums or prizes for 

 the students of the said institution, upon the principle of the 

 " Telford Fund.'" This fund (with accumulations of dividends) 

 realises nearly ;^I40 per annum. Out of this fund the 

 council has established a scholarship, called "The Miller 

 Scholarship of the Institution of Civil Engineers," and is 

 prepared to award one such scholarship, not exceeding /['40 in 

 value, each year, and tenable for three years. (4) The How.ird 



