464 
NATURE 
[Maxcu 14, 1907 
where n is a constant and A varies with the animal and 
the mode of progress. That is, in terms of logarithms, 
log T=log A+7.log L ; 0 oy 
Hence, if T and L are plotted on logarithmic paper, 
or their logarithms plotted on ordinary scale paper, 
the points obtained will lie more or less closely round 
a straight line. If a line be run as near as may be 
through the points, its slope will give the value of n. 
This is the procedure adopted by Mr. Kennelly, and 
he finds an average value of n equal to g/8, corre- 
sponding to a ratio of the times for double distances 
2.181. To illustrate the closeness of the logarithmic 
law from data that are readily accessible in England, 
we have plotted a diagram from the table of running 
records in ‘‘ Whitaker’s Almanack ”’ (p. 415), taking, 
like Mr. Kennelly, the lowest record, whether amateur 
or professional, in each case. We must refer the reader 
to the original paper for numerous diagrams, on a 
somewhat larger scale, illustrating the records in the 
other cases. 
The author concludes, we think correctly, that a 
en eee ee ae 
ee 
6 
45 
Logarithm of time (seconds). 
v5 
Logarithm of distance (miles). 
Men running: logarithmic graph of record time and distance, too yards to 
100 miles. 
record is more lilely to be lowered if it correspond to 
a point lying above the time-distance line than if 
it correspond to a point lying below it, and hence the 
graph may be of service to the athlete. He also argues 
that, as a consequence of the law, an athlete should 
adopt such a speed in running that he can just main- 
tain it constant to the end of the course and is then 
completely exhausted. But the energy of the individual 
is not exhausted suddenly in this way, and, although 
the conclusion may concur with practice, we do not 
think that it follows from the given law of record 
speeds. We agree with the author that more inform- 
ation is wanted on this head. It seems doubtful, in 
fact, if the observed rule should be termed a “‘ law of 
fatigue’’ at all; it is not a law of the variation of 
speed, with time or distance, for the same individual 
running his fastest continuously, nor even of the 
average speeds of the same runner over different 
NO. 195C, VOL. 75 
distances when he knew in advance the distance to 
be run. It is a law relating times to distances when 
the best possible runner is selected for each particular 
distance. This involves the adaptation of the indi- 
vidual as well as fatigue. How much it involves 
adaptation or selection is illustrated by the complete 
disagreement of the older with the more recent 
records for the case of trotting horses. For the longer 
distances only old records are available, and these fit 
much better with the older records for short distances 
(cf. Encycl. Brit., xii., 205) than with the more 
recent records given by Mr. Kennelly. 
We cannot help hoping that a knowledge of 
“ Kennelly’s Law’ will soon be widely diffused; the 
possibilities of its educational influence seem almost 
unbounded. The bookmakers will take to studying 
‘““Chambers’ Tables’’; betting books will be bound 
up with a few pages of logarithmic paper for the 
purpose of entering, shall we say, ** recordograms”’; 
and Jones Minor, callous to the beauties of logarith- 
mic graphs when illustrated by the laws of steam or 
the behaviour of purely symbolic barges on non- 
existent canals, may awaken into something re- 
sembling life when racing records are in question. 
Schoolmasters need not hesitate for fear of corrupting 
youth; the necessary data can be taken from either 
of those most respectable publications, ‘‘ Whitaker's 
Almanac ’’ and the ‘‘ Encyclopedia Britannica.” 
GU 
PROF. H. W. BAKHUIS-ROOZEBOOM. 
HEMISTS have received with great sorrow the 
news of the death of Prof. H. W. Bakhuis- 
Roozeboom on February 8. Roozeboom was struck 
down in full activity, and science might have hoped 
to have been enriched by his worl for years to come. 
At the beginning of February, however, he was 
attacked by influenza; apparent recovery was followed 
by pneumonia, which in three days proved fatal. He 
leaves a widow and five children. 
Hendrik Willem Bakhuis-Roozeboom was born on 
October 24, 1854, at Alkmaar, a little town some 
twenty miles north of Haarlem, noted in history for 
the first successful resistance made against the 
Spaniards in the struggle for Dutch independence. 
He was educated in his native town at one of the 
higher burgher schools where so excellent an educa- 
tion on modern lines is given. Even during his 
school career his unusual ability gave promise of a 
notable future. After leaving school he assisted his 
chemistry master, Dr. Boeke, for some time in 
making a number of soil analyses in connection with 
the plan which is still under discussion of draining 
the neighbouring Zuider Zee. Not thinking at first 
of an academic career, he accepted a position in the 
butter factory of Dr. Mouton at the Hague, and it 
was the circumstance of the factory being burnt down 
in 1878 which decided his future. Hearing of the 
fire, a brother-in-law of Dr. Boeke, van Bemmelen, 
professor of chemistry at Leyden, offered Roozeboom 
the post of assistant. This he decided to accept, and 
while thus occupied he carried on his studies in the 
University of Leyden, and graduated in 1884. He 
remained at Leyden as docent, and later as lecturer, 
supplementing his small university stipend by teach- 
ing in the girls’ higher burgher school and by 
translating English books into Dutch, until on the 
removal of van ’t Hoff to Berlin in 1896 he succeeded 
him as professor of general chemistry in the Uni- 
