466 



NATURE 



[August 3, 19 16 



TH£ FUNERAL OF SIR WILLIAM RAMSAy. 



THE funeral of Sir William Ramsay took place 

 at Hazlemere, High Wycombe, on Wednes- 

 day, July 26, in the presence of a large and repre- 

 sentative gathering comprising very many who 

 had been students of his. The congregation in- 

 cluded : — Sir J. J. Thomson and Prof. Emerson 

 Reynolds (representing the Royal Society) ; Prof. 

 F. G. Donnan, Prof. E. G. Coker, Prof. A. R. 

 Cushny, Prof. G. D. Thane, Prof. J. A. Piatt, 

 Dr. S. Smiles, Mr. H. Keene (acting treasurer), 

 and Dr. W. W. Seton (secretary) (representing 

 University College, London) ; Dr. Alexander 

 Scott, Sir W. Tilden, Sir J. Dobbie, Lieut. -Col. 

 A. Smithells (also representing the University of 

 Leeds), Prof. Liversidge, Prof. J. M. Thomson 

 (also representing King's College, London), Prof. 

 Frankland (also representing the University of 

 Birmingham), Prof. H. E. Armstrong, Prof. J. F. 

 Thorpe, Prof. W. H. Perkin (also representing 

 Magdalen College, Oxford), and Prof. Phillips 

 (representing the Chemical Society) ; Sir Boverton 

 Redwood, Sir A. Pedler, Lady Napier Shaw, and 

 Mr. R. Mond (representing the British Science 

 Guild) ; Sir Philip Magnus and Prof. H. Jackson 

 (representing the University of London) ; Sir 

 Henry Craik, M.P. (representing the University 

 of Glasgow) ; Prof. Philip and Dr. Schryver (repre- 

 senting the Imperial College of Science and Tech- 

 nology) ; Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan (representing the 

 University of Bristol) ; Mr. T. F. Burton (repre- 

 senting the Society of Chemical Industry) ; Mr. 

 A. Chaston Chapman (representing the Society of 

 Public Analysts) ; Dr. L. Thorne (representing the 

 Institute of Brewing) ; Prof. A. M. Worthington, 

 Sir Napier Shaw, Sir Edward and Lady Brabrook, 

 Dr. Veley, Dr. J. A. Harker, Mr. O. Hehner, 

 Dr. W. Gray, Sir J. Mackenzie Davidson, Dr. G. 

 Carey Foster, Dr. G. Senter, Dr. Morris W. 

 Travers, Dr. Lewis Reynolds, Mr. W. Macnab, 

 Mr. G. McGowan, Dr. J. Scott Keltic, and Mr. 

 and Mrs. R. Priestley. The last-named, it is of 

 interest to note, in addition to paying their per- 

 sonal tribute of respect, represented the family of 

 the great chemist Priestley. W^e understand 

 that telegrams of condolence were received from 

 the Franklin Society, the New York section 

 of the Society of Chemical Industry, the Principal 

 of Houston University, Texas, and the President 

 of the Instruction Publique de France, also many 

 letters and telegrams from the presidents and 

 secretaries of various learned societies among the 

 Allies, and that a wreath has been, or is being, 

 sent by the Chemical Society of France. The 

 foregoing list, which does not aim at complete- 

 ness, testifies to the esteem and affection felt for 

 the great man of science whose remains were laid 

 to rest a week ago. 



DR. /. A. HARVIE-BROWN. 



THE ranks of naturalists have suffered a great 

 loss through the death of Dr. J. A. Harvie- 

 Brown, who took for many years an active and 

 effective interest in ornithology and faunistic 

 studies. He was born at Dunipace in Stirlingshire 

 NO. 2440, VOL. 97] 



in August, 1844, and died there on July 26 last. 

 He studied at the universities of Edinburgh and 

 Cambridge, travelled widely in Norway, Russia, 

 Transylvania, and elsewhere, and had a very inti- 

 mate acquaintance with Scotland. A very active 

 man in early life, and keen with his rod and gun, 

 he was for many years unable to move about 

 much, and was but little known, except by his 

 writings, to the younger naturalists. To the end, 

 however, he kept up his interests, and was a very 

 good correspondent. His generous recognition of 

 the work of other naturalists was very charac- 

 teristic, and he was always ready to give assist- 

 ance from his extraordinary store of information. 

 He had a very high standard of precision and 

 cautiousness of statement, and was not slow to 

 winnow wheat from chaff, but there was always 

 good-humour behind his tonic criticisms. Dr. 

 Harvie-Brown had a very extensive and accurate 

 knowledge of birds and their habits, and was par- 

 ticularly interested in problems of distribution and 

 migration. His studies of the capercaillie, the 

 squirrel, the fulmar, and so on are models of their 

 kind. He was for many years one of the editors 

 of the Annals of Scottish Natural History, and 

 continued his assistance when that became, in 

 1912, the Scottish Naturalist. The number of 

 articles and notes that he published in those jour- 

 nals and elsewhere was enormous. Dr. Harvie- 

 Brown will be most remembered as the editor of, 

 and chief contributor to, the well-known series of 

 volumes on the "Vertebrate Fauna of Scotland." 

 Along with Mr. T. E. Buckley, he wrote the 

 volumes on Sutherland, Caithness, and Cromarty 

 (1887), the Orkney Islands (1891), Argyll and the 

 Inner Hebrides (1892), the Moray Basin (1895), 

 and he was alone responsible for that dealing 

 with the Tay Basin and Strathmore (1906). The 

 fine workmanship of these volumes is widely 

 recognised. Dr. Harvie-Brown was a landed pro- 

 prietor, and a good instance of the gentleman of 

 leisure who worked hard at ornithology and came 

 to have an expert knowledge of some of its 

 aspects. In 1912 he received the honorary degree 

 of LL.D. from the University of Aberdeen in 

 recognition of his contributions to a knowledge of 

 the Scottish fauna. 



NOTES. 



The second National Exposition of Chemical Indus- 

 tries will be held in New York on September 25-30. 

 During the same week the annual meeting of the 

 American Chemical Society will take place. The 

 meetings of the American Electrochemical Society will 

 be held on September 28-30. 



On Wednesday, July 26, the memorial to Sir Wil- 

 liam White, promoted by the Institution of Naval 

 Architects, was formally handed over to the council of 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers. The presentation 

 was made by Adrniral Sir Reginald Custance and 

 Earl Brassey, who stated that 3000Z. had been col- 

 lected. The money is to be allotted to the foundation 

 of a Research Scholarship Fund, the provision of a 

 memorial medallion to be placed in the hall of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, and a grant to West- 

 minster Hospital. The memorial was accepted by 



