AM TURE 



[Jaxuakv 5, 1905 



aid of vegetation. At all events nobody has ever cared 

 to propose an)' other explanation of the facts, so far 

 as the writer is aware. 



As the lunation progresses the western portion of 

 this dark area slowly fades out, while the eastern is 

 absorbed in the gathering shadows of the lunar night. 



In various parts of the crater, but especiallv in the 

 south-eastern and northern portions, numerous small 

 canals and lakes present themselves. These markings 

 are practicalh" identical in appearance with those seen 

 upon the planet Mars. They are too small to be well 

 shown in the photographs, and seem to be of much 

 more regular structure than the larger markings, 

 which are here also called canals. It is possible that 

 this difference is due merelv to the fact that the larger 

 markings are better seen. A more detailed account of 

 the phenomena here described will be found in the 

 Harvard Annals (liii.). 



WiLLUM H. Pickering. 



SIR LOWTHIAN BELL, BART., F.R.S. 

 OIR Lowthian Bell, whose death at the age of 

 •-' eighty-eight has already been announced, studied 

 physical science at the University of Edinburgh and 

 the .Sorbonne at Paris, and at the age of twenty-four 

 entered the Walker ironworks, near Newcastle. 

 There, we learn from the obituary notice in the Times, 

 he remained until 1850, when he became connected 

 with the chemical works at Washington, in North 

 Durham. He greatly enlarged the works and laid 

 down extensive plant for the manufacture of an oxy- 

 chloride of lead introduced as a substitute for white 

 lead by his father-in-law-, Mr. H. L. Pattinson, F.R.S., 

 with whom he was associated in the business at 

 Washington. There, too, was introduced in i860 

 almost the first plant in England for the manufacture 

 of aluminium by the Deville sodium process. 



Soon after the discovery of the main bed of Cleveland 

 ironstone near .Middlesbrough, Sir Lowthian Bell, in 

 conjunction with his brothers, Thomas and John, 

 started ironworks in 1852 at Port Clarence, on the north 

 bank of the Tees. The Clarence works was one of the 

 earliest and is now one of the largest iron-smelting 

 works on the Tees. About half a century ago the Tees 

 then flooded ground where iron furnaces now stand. 

 Sir Lowthian Bell and his brothers acquired their own 

 ironstone mines, collieries, and limestone quarries, 

 while they were always prompt to adopt anv improve- 

 ment in process or apparatus that seemed likelv to be 

 advantageous. 



In the development of the Cleveland iron industry 

 the Bell firm played a very important part, and what 

 has been the extent of that development mav be judged 

 from the fact that whereas the district in 1S50 produced 

 less than 25,000 tons of pig iron, at the present time 

 Middlesbrough produces about one-quarter of the total 

 output of this country. The firm was active in pro- 

 secuting those technical studies by which processes 

 have been devised enabling Cleveland ores to compete 

 as raw material for the production of iron and steel 

 with others possessing greater natural advantages. 

 In regard to steel, the great trouble with those ores is 

 the high percentage of phosphorus (1.8 to 2.0 per cent.) 

 contained in the cast iron which they vield ; vet Middles- 

 brough, largely as a result of experiments carried on 

 under Sir Lowthian Bell's direction, at a cost, it is 

 said, of between 40.000?. and 50,000?., produces steel 

 rails in which this percentage is reduced to 0.07 or 

 less. 



When the British .Association met at Newcastle in 



1863, Sir Ixiwthian Bell contributed a paper on the 



manufacture of iron in connection with the 



Northumberland and Durham coalfields. In 1870 he 



3V0. 1836, VOL. 71] 



wrote a paper on the sanitary condition of Newcastle, 

 and more recently he compiled an elaborate account 

 of the iron trade of the L'nited Kingdom, compared 

 with that of the other chief iron-making countries. 

 On the chemistry of iron he was a high authority. 

 The establishment of a chemical laboratory in connec- 

 tion with the Clarence works shows how fully he 

 realised the importance of the scientific study of in- 

 dustrial processes, and his own researches on the 

 chemistry of iron and steel have become classic. Many 

 of these appeared first in the form of papers read before 

 the Iron and Steel Institute, and a number of them 

 were subsequently collected and published in a volume 

 entitled " The Chemical Phenomena of Iron Smelt- 

 ing." Sir Lowthian was also the author of a book on 

 the " Principles of the ^L^nufacture of Iron and 

 Steel," as well as of many papers contributed to other 

 scientific societies. 



He was one of the original founders, in 1S69, of the 

 Iron and Steel Institute, and filled the office of president 

 from 1873 to 1875, and in 1874 became the first recipient 

 of the gold medal instituted bv Sir Henry Bessemer the 

 year before. He was a member of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers and of the Chemical Society, and a 

 past president of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers. In 1874 he was elected a fellow of the 

 Royal Society. In recognition of his services as juror 

 of the international exhibitions at Philadelphia in 1876, 

 and at Paris in 1878, he was elected an honorary 

 member of the American Philosophical Institution, and 

 an Officer of the Legion of Honour. He was elected 

 on the council of the Societv of .\rts in 1876, and in 

 i8g5 was awarded the Albert medal of the society 

 " in recognition of the services he has rendered to arts, 

 manufactures, and commerce by his metallurgical re- 

 searches, and the resulting development of the iron and 

 steel industries." The honour of a baronetcy was con- 

 ferred on him in 1885, and in 1893 he received the 

 degree of LL. D. from Edinburgh University. 



NOTES. 

 A SELECTION from the specimens recently presented to the 

 British (Natural History) Museum by His Majesty the King 

 of Portugal has recently been placed on public exhibition 

 in the north hall. 



The annual meetings of the .American -Association for 

 the .Advancement of Science and of the .American Physical 

 Society were held in Philadelphia, Pa., in " Convocation 

 Week," from December 26, 1904, to January 2. 



Tme International Botanical Congress will meet at 

 \ienna in June next, when a discussion will take place on 

 the important question of uniformity of nomenclature, re- 

 garded both from a scientific point of view and in connection 

 with international reports. 



Under the title " Lichtenstein Prize," the Montpellier 

 .Academy of Sciences offers a prize for the best essay dealing 

 with any question of zoology not referring to man. The 

 last day is November i, 1905. Printed memoirs more than 

 three years old, or papers which have gained previous prizes, 

 are excluded. 



The third International Congress of Philosophy will be 

 held at Heidelberg in 1908. Among the English speaking 

 members of the organising commission the name has been 

 added of Prof. Strong, of Columbia University. A detailed 

 account of the congress held this year at Geneva is given 

 in a special number of the Revue dc .Metapbysique et dc 

 Morale for November, 1904. 



