132 



NA TURE 



[December 7, 1899 



TESTIMONIAL TO MAJOR-GENERAL SIR 

 J. F. D. DONNELLY, K.C.B. 



AT a meeting in the Lecture Theatre of the Victoria and 

 Albert Museum on Wednesday, November 29, which 

 was very numerously attended by members of the present 

 and past staff of the Department, and by men of science 

 and artists who have been connected with it, Sir John 

 Gorst presented, on the behalf of some five hundred sub- 

 scribers, the testimonial to Sir John Donnelly. 



This consisted of a silver salver, a set of library furni- 

 ture, a collection of books of reference, a Zeiss binocular, 

 and a diamond brooch for Lady Donnelly, and the in- 

 scription on the salver stated that it was in recognition of 

 their high regard and in remembrance of their cordial 

 relations of more than forty years. 



Sir John Gorst, in presenting the testimonial, said : 

 Ladies and gentlemen— I have been invited this afternoon 

 to perform one of the most pleasant duties that has fallen 

 to my lot since I have had the honour of being Vice- 

 President of the Committee of Council on Education. It 

 is to present, in the name of the gentlemen who have 

 been employed at South Kensington as colleagues of Sir 

 John Donnelly, a memento of the long period of public 

 service which he has performed in this place, and a 

 testimonial of the affection and sympathy with which 

 he is regarded by the gentlemen who have been his 

 colleagues. 



I have myself been a colleague of Sir John Donnelly 

 for about four years, and speaking of my own personal 

 experience, I can only say that I have received from him, 

 upon all occasions, the most loyal co-operation, which 

 has been enhanced by a very strong personal friend- 

 ship. 



I had an opportunity about three years ago of seeing 

 an attack, made ostensibly on the department of which 

 he was the head, but which really had a considerable 

 amount of personal animus in it. 



There was an inquiry by a Committee of the House of 

 Commons, in which Sir John Donnelly was virtually put 

 tipon his trial, and I can only say that, in the opinion of 

 his official chiefs— the Duke of Devonshire's opinion was 

 the same as my own — from that inquiry Sir John Don- 

 nelly emerged with the conclusion, in the minds of those 

 who have read the evidence, that he had been a most 

 ■loyal servant of the Department, that there were no alle- 

 gations made against him which could be substantiated, 

 that his administration of the Department had deserved 

 the approbation of the country, and that the insinuations 

 made against him were absolutely baseless. 



Sir John Donnelly had served the department for up- 

 wards of forty years, and the testimonial, of which you 

 have been good enough to ask through me his accept- 

 ance, is before you on the table. There is one point 

 about it which deserves special allusion on my part. 

 Among the objects which Sir John Donnelly has been 

 asked to accept is a binocular, and, I think, you will be 

 interested to know that that binocular is entirely the gift 

 of the junior staff of the Department. It has been sub- 

 scribed for by 150 persons, comprising stokers, ex- 

 policemen, labourers, boys, and those who form quite 

 the bottom of this great Department. I think the value 

 of this gift — which shows the estimation in which he 

 was held by this very important but not very wealthy 

 ■class of the public service — will be to him as much as 

 any of the more costly gifts. I am also asked, at the 

 same time, to present a diamond brooch to Lady Don- 

 nelly, and I am sure that it will be extremely gratifying 

 to Sir John Donnelly to know that the estimation in 

 which he has been held by this Department has been 

 shared by Lady Donnelly. In the name of the employes 

 of the Department of Science and Art I beg your ac- 

 ceptance, and Lady Donnelly's acceptance, of these testi- 

 monials. 



NO. T57I. VOL. 61] 



Sir John Donnelly and Lady Donnelly made suitable 

 replies. 



It has been arranged to entertain Sir John Donnelly 

 at dinner at the Victoria Room, Criterion, on Tuesday 

 next, December 12. Many representatives of science 

 and art, who are or have been connected with the Depart- 

 ment and its affiliated Institutions, will be present as a 

 recognition of the valuable services he has rendered. 



THE NOVEMBER METEORS. 

 T N nearly all the accounts of the observations of the 

 ■*■ Leonids the same result is recorded, namely, the 

 apparent dearth of these bodies. It is true that un- 

 favourable weather conditions were experienced in many 

 localities ; but even taking this fact into account, it may 

 be safely said that the expected shower did not arrive in 

 anything like the density it was expected, at any rate 

 during the nights in which watches were kept. 



In a previous number of this journal (vol. Ixi. p. 81) 

 many communications were published describing, for the 

 main part, observations made in the British Isles. 

 Several accounts of other observations have recently 

 come to hand, and the following brief summary shows 

 that the result of these watches did not differ very much 

 from that mentioned above. 



Paris was evidently blessed with more favourable 

 weather conditions than London. In the first balloon 

 ascent, on the morning of November 14-15, the following 

 number of Leonids was seen : — 



Leonids. 



Of these 19 were of the first magnitude, 43 of the second, 

 29 of the third, and 9 of the fourth. It is further stated 

 that this number would probably have been considerably 

 increased if the moon had been absent. 



At the second ascent, on the night of November 15-16, 

 in a watch from ih. 20m. a.m. to 6 a.m., only 8 Leonids 

 were observed. M. Bailland, at the Observatory of 

 Toulouse, observed from 1-6 a.m., on the morning of the 

 1 6th, and only saw 43 Leonids in that long watch. M. 

 Deslandres, at Paris, who had made great photographic 

 preparations, was no more fortunate than the British 

 observers. 



From Strasbourg we learn that on the morning of the 

 15th many Leonids were seen ; the maximum number 

 occurred about six o'clock, when the rate reached sixty 

 per hour. This seems to be the greatest number per 

 hour this year recorded, and is in harmony with the 

 observations made at the first balloon ascent referred to 

 above. 



The above accounts corroborate the statement that 

 night observations made in different parts of the world 

 have failed to record a great shower. If the earth did 

 not actually pass through the dense part of the swarm in 

 the daytime at some place, then we must conclude that 

 the actions of some of the planets have so perturbed the 

 orbit of the meteors that this year we have only skirted 

 the outlying portion of the stream. 



Two accounts of " daylight " observations of the 

 Leonids have come to hand, and for one of these we 

 must thank Prof N. Story Maskelyne, who, when he 

 heard of them, requested a written statement of the 

 display from each of the spectators, asking them to 

 describe in simple words what they were quite certain 

 they saw. 



The place of observation was Little Hinton, Wan- 

 borough, Swindon, Wilts, a village about 400 feet above 

 sea-level, and a mile or so from the old Roman road from 



