January ii, 1894] 



NA TURE 



25i 



culties will lie. His lectures were illustrated not only by 

 wall diagrams, prepared by himself, but by sketches on 

 the blackboard drawn with the clear decided stroke of a 

 master-hand whilst he was talking. He was second to 

 none in appreciating the importance of drawing as a 

 means of tixing the details of a structure upon the 

 student's mind, and it was his custom to offer annually a 

 prize for the best note-book produced by a member of 

 the class. 



In his own investigations it was his practice to begin 

 with the illustrations, and in this way the whole of the 

 figures in his " Vertebrate Embryology " were drawn be- 

 fore a line of the text was written. This power of clear 

 exposition and his long experience as a teacher rendered 

 him a singularly competent writer of text-books, as is 

 evidenced by " The Frog,"' and " Practical Zoology," 

 each of which has passed through several editions. 



His powers as a teacher and his powers as an athlete i 

 rendered him extremely popular with the students ; his [ 

 advice was often sought and was valued because it was ; 

 always candid, whilst his geniality and kindliness were [ 

 such that his most outspoken criticism never gave 

 offence. 



It is no disparagement, however, to his powers as a 

 scientific investigator and as a teacher, to say that his 

 greatest distinction was his capacity for organisation, 

 though this was as yet only known to those associated 

 with him in administrative work ; it is not too much to 

 say that the great success which attended the Manches- 

 ter meeting of the British Association was mainly due to 

 his efforts as local secretary, whilst his services first as 

 secretary and then as chairman of the Board of Studies 

 rendered no small aid to the Victoria University in the 

 early stages of its growth. 



The University Extension movement in Lancashire 

 and Cheshire loses one of its most ardent supporters. 

 Though well aware of the necessary failings of this 

 method of imparting instruction, he was firmly persuaded 

 of its usefulness as a means of stimulating an interest in 

 intellectual studies. He was an ideal Extension lecturer ; 

 his singularly lucid style enabled him to expound difficult 

 biological problems to large popular audiences, whilst 

 the truths he taught were indelibly impressed upon his 

 audience by the striking and generally humorous lan- 

 guage in which they were couched. 



Marshall was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 

 18S5, and served upon the Council for the year 1891-2. 

 By his death the scientific world loses a conscientious 

 and brilliant worker ; the college and university a 1 

 successful teacher and administrator ; but what of those 

 who are privileged to be his friends ? He was a most 

 stimulating influence in work, and a cheery companion 

 in pleasure, whose geniality was never known to be 

 ruffled by ill-temper or irritation. He concealed a deep 

 seriousness beneath a jocular and almost boyish de- 

 meanour and phraseology, and whilst rejoicing in an 

 unbounded flow of animal spirits himself, the sorrows of 

 others touched him to the quick and called forth his 

 practical sympathy. Science will progress and the col- 

 lege and university hold on their course but the place of 



our friend can never be taken by another. I 



I 



NOTES. ' 



It is with deep regret that we announce the death of Prof. 

 Hertz, the eminent investigator whose v/ork marks an epoch in 

 the history of electrical science. The information comes as a 

 surprise to us, and we are grieved that one from whom so much 

 more might have been expected has been cut off in the prime of ! 

 his life. The gap produced in the ranks of scientific investi- 

 gators by his death will not readily be filled. 



Prof. P. van Beneden must be added to the list of men 

 of science who have recently passed away, and whose loss 

 NO. 1263, VOL. 49] 



we mourn. He has just died at Louvain, at the age of ninety- 

 three, but his works live and will always do honour to his 

 name. He was a member of the Brussels Academy of .Sciences, 

 and had been professor at Louvain University for nearly sixty 

 years. 



We regret to record the death of Prof. Forchhammer, the 

 well-known archaeologist ; of Prof. K. L. Michelet, Berlin 

 at the age of ninety-two ; of Dr. S. Guttmann, Geheimer 

 Sanitats-Rath, and editor of the Medicinischen Wochenschrift > 

 and of Dr. L. Krahmer, Ordinary Professor of State Medicine 

 in Halle University. 



By the death of Dr. George Gordon, natural history in the 

 north of Scotland has lost one of its most enthusiastic and oldest 

 supporters. He died at the advanced age of ninety-two years, on 

 December 12, after working nearly three-quarters of a century 

 in the cause of science. 



A COMMITTEE of eminent men of science, art, and literature, 

 with M. Pasteur at its head, has been formed in Paris for the 

 purpose of raising the funds to erect a monument to the memory 

 of the late Dr. Charcot. 



Dr. R. Brauns has been appointed Professor of Mineralogy 

 in the Darmstadt Technical High School. 



A BOTANIC garden and arboretum has been established at 

 Buenos Ayres, by M. C. Thays. 



Prof. G. Schweinfurth has started on his third botanical 

 exploring visit to the Italian colony of Eritrea, on the Red 

 Sea. 



Prof. F. Delpino, of Bologna, has been appointed Director 

 of the Botanic Garden at Naples, and Professor of Botany in the 

 University. 



One of the bequests in the will of Mr. A. Peckover, who 

 died last month, is the sum of ^100 to the Linnean Society. 



Mr. F. E. Ives has been awarded the Elliott Cresson gold 

 medal of the Franklin Institute for his system of colour photo- 

 graphy, known as composite heliochromy. 



The Society for the Encouragement of Industry in the 

 Netherlands offer a prize equivalent to ;^30, and a gold medal, 

 for the best memoir on the production of electricity by wind- 

 mills. Intending competitors must send in their schemes before 

 July I, to the Secretary of the Society, Haarlem, Holland. 



Electrical engineers have as yet been unable to perfect 

 a system of working tramways electrically along crowded 

 thoroughfares. Inventors have long been engaged endeavouring 

 to overcome the difficulties, and as an incentive to them to 

 throw themselves into their task with renewed vigour is an an- 

 nouncement in the Times that the Metropolitan Traction Com- 

 pany of New York City has offered the handsome award of 

 about ;/^io,ooo for a system of street-car propulsion which will 

 be superior or equal to the overhead trolley system, but with- 

 out possessing the objectionable feature of the trolley for 

 crowded thoroughfares. 



The Committee on Science and the Arts of the Franklin 

 Institute has issued a circular in which attention is directed to 

 three awards under its control. The character and conditions 

 of these awards are, briefly, as follows : — The Elliott Cresson 

 Medal is of gold, and may be granted for some discovery in the 

 arts and sciences, or for the invention or improvement of some 

 useful machine, or for some new process, or combination of 

 materials in manufactures, or for ingenuity, skill, or perfection 

 in workmanship. The John Scott Legacy Premium and 

 Medal (twenty dollars and a medal of bronze) is awarded for 

 useful inventions. The Edward Longstreth Medal of Merit is 



