November 13, 1902] 



NATURE 



35 



THE REV. THOMAS WILTSHIRE, M.A., D.Sc. 



THE Rev. Thomas Wiltshire, whose death, as already 

 announced, took place on October 26, was for some 

 years professor of geology and mineralogy at King's 

 College, London. To geologists he was, perhaps, best 

 known as the honorary secretary of the Pateontographical 

 Society, a post which he held for thirty-six years, in the 

 course of which time he laboured with unceasing energy 

 in the editing of the annual quarto volumes. 



He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and, 

 after taking his degree in 1850, he was ordained deacon 

 by the Bishop of Rochester, and in 1853 priest by the 

 Bishop of London. He resided for many years at the 

 rectory, Bread Street, London, E.C., and took duty in 

 various city churches. While at college his attention 

 became arrested in geological subjects, but his literary 

 contributions were few. Among them were essays on the 

 Red Chalk of Hunstanton and on the history of coal. 

 His work was mainly that of a helper of others. He 

 was one of the earliest members of the Geologists' 

 Association, and served as president from 1S59 to 1862. 

 Tothe Geological Society of London he rendered good 

 service on the council, and for many years acted as 

 treasurer. He had also been secretary of the Ray Society. 



NOTES. 



Science is represented in the long list of birthday honours 

 by three names. Mr. W. H. Power, F.R.S., principal medical 

 officer to the Local Government Board, has been made a Com- 

 panion of the Order of the Bath ; Sir J. J. Trevor Lawrence 

 has been appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian 

 Order ; and Mr. H. J. Chaney, superintendent of the Standards 

 Department, Board of Trade, has been made a Companion of 

 the Imperial Service Order. 



The following is a list of those who have been recommended 

 by the president and council of the Royal Society for election 

 into the council for the year 1903 at the anniversary meeting on 

 December 1. The names of new members are printed in 

 italics: — President, Sir William Huggins, K.C.B., O.M. ; 

 treasurer, Mr. A. B. Kempe ; secretaries, Sir Michael Foster, 

 K. C. B., and Dr. Joseph Larmor ; foreign secretary, Dr. T. E. 

 Thorpe, C.B. ; other members of the council, Mr. W. Bateson, 

 Dr. W. T. Blanford, Prof. H. L. Callendar, Mr. F. Darwin, 

 Prof. H. B. Dixon, Prof. G. Carey Foster, Right Hon. Sir 

 John E. Gorst, Prof. /. W. Judd, C.B., Right Hon. The Lord 

 Lister, O.M., Prof. G. D. Liveing, Prof. A. E. H. Love, Prof. 

 H. A. Miers, Prof. E. A. Schdfer, Capt. T. H. Tizard, R.N., 

 C.B., Prof. H. H. Turner, Sir /. Wolfe Barry, K.C.B. 



All who are familiar with the services rendered to science 

 and humanity by the late Prof. Virchow will be glad to know 

 that a movement has been started with the object of erecting a 

 statue to him at Berlin. It is felt by many admirers of Virchow 

 that the memorial should be more than an exclusively German 

 one, for his labours have benefited the world at large, and in 

 this country in particular he has numerous disciples who would 

 regard it a privilege to give evidence of their esteem for him. 

 The proposed formation of a British Committee to assist the 

 Berlin Committee of the Virchow Memorial will therefore 

 meet with substantial support. Lord Lister has undertaken the 

 chairmanship of the Committee and Sir Felix Semon is the 

 honorary secretary pro tern. A meeting will shortly be held to 

 elect officers of the Committee and decide upon a form of appeal 

 for contributions. When the invitation to subscribe to the 

 memorial has been issued, there should be a ready response to 

 it, so that Great Britain shall be worthily represented at the 

 monument of a great benefactor of the human race. 



NO. 1724, VOL. 67] 



The Earl of Crawford, F. R.S., who is about to take a winter 

 tour round the world in his famous steam yacht Valhalla, has 

 invited Mr. M. J. Nicoll, a member of the British Ornith- 

 ologists' Union, to accompany him as naturalist. After passing 

 through the Straits of Magellan, the Valhalla will visit the 

 principal island-groups of the South Pacific, where its naturalist 

 will have ample opportunities for collecting and observing birds 

 and other animals. The return will be made by the Indian 

 Ocean and Suez Canal. 



A MOVEMENT is in progress at the Cape to establish in South 

 Africa a society on the lines of the British Association, to be 

 called the " South African Association for the Advancement of 

 Science." Sir David Gill, K.C.B. , F.R.S , H.M. Astronomer 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, is to be the first president of the 

 new association, and Mr. W. L. Sclater, director of the South 

 African Museum, has been asked to preside over the zoo- 

 logical section. The first meeting of the association will 

 probably be held at Cape Town at Easter next year. 



The seventh International Congress of Agriculture will be 

 held at Rome next spring. 



A Reuter message from Chrisliania announces, on the 

 authority of Prof. F. Nansen, that an expedition under the 

 leadership of Captain Amundsen will leave in 1903 for Green- 

 land and King William's Land to locate the magnetic pole. 

 The expedition will afterwards continue its way west and will 

 return home via Bering Strait. Captain Amundsen will make 

 systematic magnetic observations in the regions traversed, and 

 will also carry on geographical exploration. 



We learn from the Times that M. Trouillot, the French 

 Minister of Commerce, and M. Berard, Under-Secretary for 

 Posts and Telegraphs, are about to pay visits to all the inventors 

 of systems of wireless telegraphy with a view to the ultimate 

 adoption of one of them. 



A Reuter telegram from Rome reports that the Captain of 

 the Italian cruiser Carlo Alberto has informed the Italian Ministry 

 ot Marine that the vessel was in daily communication by wire- 

 less telegraphy with Poldhu, in Cornwall, throughout the voyage 

 from England to Canada, and even when the vessel had entered 

 Port Sydney Harbour. The telegram further states that this 

 achievement confirms the possibility of holding simultaneous 

 communications with Europe and America during the navigation 

 of the Atlantic at least up to a distance of 3000 miles. 



According to the Electrician, some of the wireless telegraph 

 messages transmitted from Poldhu to the Carlo Alberto on her 

 recent cruise were recorded on installations not belonging to the 

 Marconi Company or put up on their system. In the last issue 

 but one a letter from the Marconi Company recalls, and repeats, 

 the challenge which Mr. Marconi recently made to Sir W. H. 

 Preece or Sir O. Lodge to show that they could pick up his 

 messages, and questions the ability of the Electrician to prove 

 that their messages were genuinely intercepted. In reply, the 

 Electrician published last week the tape records with an article 

 by Mr. Nevil Maskelyne describing the circumstances under 

 which they were obtained at the wireless telegraph station 

 erected by the Eastern Telegraph Co. at their cable terminus 

 at Porthcwmow (Cornwall). We call attention to the discus- 

 sion because it is of special interest in view of the proposed 

 Berlin conference, and of the necessity which we have had 

 occasion to point out on one or two recent occasions for con- 

 solidation of the competing systems of wireless telegraphy. 



The annual course of Christmas lectures, specially adapted 

 to young people, at the Royal Institution, will be delivered by Prof. 

 H. S. Hele-Shcw, F.R.S. , whose subject is " Locomotion : — on 



