FEBRUARY 21, 1907] 
NATURE 597 
PROE. [2-F WW: VON BEZOLD. 
int is with deep regret that we record the death on 
Sunday last, February 17, of Prof. Wilhelm von 
Bezold, director of the Prussian Meteorological 
Institute. 
Von Bezold was born at Munich in June, 1837, and 
was admitted to the degree of Ph.D. at Gottingen in 
1860. Thence he returned to Munich as_ privat- 
docent in 1861, became extraordinary professor in the 
University in 1866, and ordinary professor at the Poly- 
technic in 1868. In 1875 he undertook the organis- 
ation of the Bavarian meteorological service as 
director of the central meteorological station, and re- 
mained in charge of the service until’ 1885, when he 
was called to Berlin as professor of meteorology in 
the University, and director of the Meteorological 
Institute, which was reorganised by him. 
The Institute included not only the central estab- 
lishment in Berlin, which formed the headquarters of 
the branch in charge of Prof. Hellmann for dealing 
with the climatology and rainfall of the Prussian 
kingdom, but also “the meteorological and magnetic 
observatories at Potsdam, in connection with which 
the names of Sprung, Eschenhagen, and A. Schmidt 
are so well known, and the aéronautical section at 
Tegel, which was brought into existence and <de- 
veloped as a branch of the Institute under Prof. Ass- 
mann. A year and a half ago the work of the latter 
institution was transferred to the new and indepen- 
dent establishment at Lindenberg. 
In the course of his long and distinguished scientific 
career von Bezold’s activity ranged over a wide field. 
His writings include papers on colour vision and the 
retina, and the dust figures of electrical discharge; 
but he is best known for his contributions to 
meteorology as the physics of the atmosphere, the 
aspect of the subject which he found most attractive, 
and to the theory of terrestrial magnetism. A 
volume of his collected papers on these subjects was 
issued as recently as October, 1906, by Vieweg and 
Son. It includes the papers on the thermodynamics 
of the atmosphere, contributed to the Berlin Academy, 
which are the classical memoirs upon that section of 
meteorology. The last paper in the collection con- 
tains his proposal for testing Gauss’s theory of terres- 
trial magnetism by measurements along a complete 
parallel of latitude. This was before the Association 
of Academies in London in 1904, when von Bezold 
was one of the representatives of the Berlin Academy. 
All who had the advantage of being associated 
with him in international worl will miss his kindly 
presence and scientific enthusiasm, as well as his 
sympathetic and cautious counsel. 
PROF. N. A. MENSCHUTKIN. 
ROF. NICOLA ALEXANDROVICH MEN- 
SCHUTKIN, who died on February 5, was born 
in St. Petersburg on October 24, 1842. After finish- 
ing his studies at the St. Petersburg University, he 
went abroad and worked in the laboratories of 
Schtreker in Tiibingen, Wurtz in Paris, and Kolbe in 
Marburg. On his return to St. Petersburg in 1865, he 
read his dissertation for the degree of Master 
of Chemistry on ‘‘ The Hydrogen of Phosphorous 
Acid and its Incapacity to be replaced by Metals.’ 
In 1867 he began to lecture on chemistry at the 
St. Petersburg University. He also gave special 
lectures on organic chemistry, and was head of the 
analytical laboratory. In 1885 he left the analytical 
department and devoted himself entirely to teaching 
organic chemistry. His doctor’s dissertation was on 
“The Synthesis and Properties of Hydrocarbons.”* In 
NO. 1947, VOL 75] 
the seventies of last century he was secretary, and in 
the eighties rector, of the Physico-mathematical 
Faculty. In recent years he left the University and 
lectured at the Polytechnic Institute of St. Petersburg. 
Mensehutkin devoted his spare time to the Physico- 
chemical-Society, the Journal of which he edited. He 
was vice-president of the Stude nts’ Aid Society, and, 
being a fine musician, he organised the students’ choir 
and orchestra. 
His first researches were on the inorganic acids, but 
he subsequently devoted himself almost exclusively to 
organic chemistry. In the ‘seventies he did some 
good work in the province of physical chemistry and 
in the mechanics of chemistry. His researches on the 
influence of isomerism of alcohols and acids on the 
formation of composite ethers were published in the 
Records of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy in 
1877, and he was awarded the Sokoloff medal for this 
work. This was his first fundamental work, and it 
marked an epoch in the history of Russian chemistry. 
Prof. Menschutkin supplemented these researches by 
further work on the same subject in 1881. His re- 
searches on etherification from 1877 to 1882 brought 
many important additions to that branch of organic 
chemistry. In 1898, 1900, and 1902 he was occupied 
in investigating the influence of carbon chains on the 
velocity of reaction and decomposition of carbon com- 
pounds. His last important research was on the velo- 
city of chemical change in the polymethylene series, 
which was translated into English and published in 
the Journal of the Chemical Society. A paper on the 
“Influence of Catalysts on the Formation of Anilides” 
almost closes his scientific career. 
His “Lectures on Organic Chemistry” passed 
through many editions. His “Analytical Chemistry” 
became the text-book for all the Russian universities 
and technical schools. In his preface to the sixth 
edition, which has been translated into English and 
German, Prof. Menschutkin claims that analyticdtl 
chemistry should form the basis for the study of 
organic and physical chemistry. Prof. Menschutlkin, 
unlike his contemporary Prof. ‘Mendeléeff, was a won- 
derful manipulator in the laboratory, and this was 
partly the secret of the precision of his results. Prof. 
Mendeléeff had the wider vision of the science, Prof. 
Menschutkin excelled in details. His earliest work 
was much influenced by his first teacher, Prof. Soko- 
loff. 
NOTES. 
It was announced in Sunday’s Observer that the Govern- 
a Bill dealing with the con- 
Applied 
the 
however, 
the 
years 
ment would shortly introduce 
stitution of the proposed 
at South Kensington, 
of London. 
College of 
the relation of 
college to the University We find, 
that this report is incorrect ; the 
establishment of the college was outlined nearly four 
ago, when Wernher, Beit and Co. offered 
100,0001. towards the and the London County Council 
agreed to contribute 20,0001. a year for maintenance, the 
matter is still in abeyance. This delay, as we have re- 
marked before, is both unfortunate and dangerous. The 
chief point at issue is whether the college shall form part 
of the University of London and be controlled by the 
Senate of the University, or whether it shall be an in- 
dependent institution having a governing body of its own. 
While the relationship between the two institutions is 
being decided, there is no visible sign that the scheme is 
taking definite shape, and many men of science and leaders 
of industry are becoming impatient at the delay. The 
departmental committee on the Royal College of Science 
Imperial 
Science and 
though scheme for 
Messrs. 
cost 
