NA rURE 



[May 9, 1901 



"Catalogue of Marsupialia and Monotremata " in the British 

 Museum, iSS8. Joint author with Dr. Sclater of "The Book 

 of Antelopes." Author of upwards of 200 memoirs and papers 

 in various journals on Mammals, their structure and distribu- 

 tion, amongst which are :— " On the Dentition of Ornitho- 

 rhynchus" (Proc. Roy. Soc, 1889); "A Milk Dentition in 

 Orycteropus" (ibid.); "On the Species of Hyracoidea" (Proc. 

 Zool. Soc-., 1S92) ; " On Cccnoles, a still existing survivor of 

 the Epanorthidae { ibid. ). 



\VlLLl.-\M W.\TSON, 

 B.Sc, Associate, Royal College of Science, London, and 

 Assistant Professor of Physics. Late University Scholar in 

 Experimental Physics, London University. In conjunction with 

 Mr, Boys and Mr. Bristoe he published a paper on "The 

 Measurement of Electro-Magnetic Radiation" (Phil. Mag., 

 31-44, 1891). In conjunction with the late Mr. J. W. Rodger 

 he published a paper " On the Magnetic Rotation of the Plane 

 of Polarisation of Light in Liquids " (/"/nV. Trans. Roy. Soc, 

 1895). This paper represented the results of four years' work. 

 As Secretary of a Committee of the Brit. Assoc, he has, in con- 

 junction with Prof. Kiicker, been conducting a series of com- 

 parisons between the Magnetic Instruments in use in the British 

 Observatories, and the results have been published in the Report 

 of the Brit. Assoc. He is still at work on an instrument for 

 comparing Thermometers (see his paper, F/iii. Mag., 44-116, 

 1S97). He is now engaged in investigating the connection 

 between the magnetic units employed in Observatories and the 

 Ampere and Ohm. 



WlLLl.\M Ckcil Dampier Whetham, 

 M.A. Lecturer in Physics. Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge. Author of the following scientific papers, &c. : — " On 

 the Alleged Slipping at the Boundary of a Liquid in Motion " 

 (Proi. Roy. Soc, xlviii., p. 225, 1890, and Phil. Trans., 1890, 

 A., p. 559) ; " Note on Kohlrausch's Theory of Ionic Velocity" 

 (Phil. Mag., July 1891); "Ionic Velocities" (Proc. Roy. 

 Soc, lii., p. 283, 1893, translated Zeits. fur PhysikalCheni. xi., 

 p. 220, 1893, also Thil. Trans., 1893, A., p. 337); "On the 

 Velocity of the Hydrogen Ion through Solutions of Acetates " 

 (Brit. Assoc Reports, 1894, p. 568) : " On the Velocities 

 of the Ions and the Relative lonisation Powers of 

 Solvents" (Phil. Mag., 1894); "The Velocities of the 

 Ions" (Proc Roy. Soc, Ivii., p. 182, 1895, and Phil. 

 Trans., A., 1895, p. 507); " The Ionising Power of Solvents" 

 (Phil. Mag., July, 1897) ; " Report to the British Association 

 on the Present State of our Knowledge in Electrolysis and 

 Electro-Chemistry" ; "The Theory of the Migration of the 

 Ions and of Specific Ionic Velocities" (Brit. Assoc Report, 

 1897, p. 227) ; " The Coagulative Power of Electrolytes" (Phil. 

 Mag., November, 1899) ; "The lonisation of Dilute Solutions 

 at the Freezing Point " (a paper read before the Royal Society) ; 

 an elementary text-book on " Solution and Electrolysis" (Camb. 

 Univ. Press, 1895); Letters and Articles in Nature and 

 Science Progress, 



Arthur Smith Woodward, 

 F.G.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.R.G.S., &c. Assistant-Keeper of 

 Geology, British Museum, Natural History, Cromwell Road, 

 S.W. Studied at the Owens College, Manchester, 1S80-S2 ; 

 entered British Museum, August 24, 1882; awarded Wollaston 

 Fund by Geological Society, 1889 ; and the Lyell Medal in 

 1896. Distinguished for his knowledge of Fossil Fishes. 

 Author of 150 separate papers, mostly on Vertebrate Paleon- 

 tology: (142 on Fossil Fishes; i4on Reptilia; 4on Mammalia; 

 and 14 on General Pala-ontology). Author of two monographs 

 (1890-95) on the Fossils of the Hawkesbury Series (A/c/n. 

 Geol. Survey, New South Wales (Palaeontology), Nos. 4 and 

 9, Museum, Sydney, New South Wales) ; and on Fossil Croco- 

 dilia from the Cretaceous Rocks of Neuquen, Argentine 

 Republic (Anales Mas. La Plata, 1896). Author of a British 

 Museum Catalogue of Fossil Fishes, comprising: Part I. 

 "The Elasmobranchii " (pp. i.-xlvii. and 1-474, plates i.-xvii. 

 and 13 woodcuts, 8vo, 1889) ; Part II. "The Elasmobranchii" 

 continned(pp. i.-xliv. and 1-567, plates i.-xvi. and 58 woodcuts, 

 8vo, 1891) ; Part III. "The Actinopterygian Teleostomi " 

 (pp. i.-xliii. and 1-544, plates i.-xviii. and 45 woodcuts. 

 (Printed by order of the Trustees, 1895.) Part IV. now pre- 

 paring for press. Also " Outlines of Vertebrate Palaeontology" 

 (Camb, Univ. Press), 189S, pp. i.-xxiv. and 1-470, with 228 

 illustrations in the text. 



NO. 1645, VOL. 64] 



REV. JAMES CHALMERS (" TAMATE"). 



T7 E\V missionaries have been so widely known and 

 -'■ so deservedly appreciated as the Rev. James 

 Chalmers, of the London Missionary Society, whose 

 death has recently been reported. Mr. Chaliners was 

 transferred from Raratonga in the Hervey Group to New- 

 Guinea twenty-three years ago, and it is in connection 

 with his later field that he has earned a recognition in 

 scientific journals. 



Tamate, as Mr. Chalmers loved to be called by his 

 white as well as by his black friends, was a man of tre- 

 mendous energy and enthusiasm, and he possessed a 

 rare sympathy with the natives that was due to a deep 

 knowledge of their nature and a personal love for them. 

 His name was a password along very nearly the whole 

 of the southern coast of British New Gumea, and in many 

 places for some distance into the interior. Those natives 

 who had only heard of him longed to see him, those who 

 knew him loved him. Till Sir William Macgregor's 

 arrival he had travelled more in British New Guinea . 

 than any other man, and, without appliances, he had 

 increased our geographical knowledge of the possession. 



It was always a regret to his scientific friends that 

 Tamate did not publish more about the natives concern- 

 ing whom he knew so much ; but he confessed that he 

 greatly disliked the effort of writing down his experi- 

 ences, though when he did so he could write in a very 

 vivid manner. His first book, " Work and Adventure in 

 New Guinea " (1885), was written in collaboration with the 

 Rev. Dr. W. Wyatt Gill, to whom anthropologists owe so 

 much. In 1887 Chalmers published his very interesting 

 " Pioneering in New Guinea." In the same year he pub- 

 lished a paper "On the Manners and Customs of some 

 of the Tribes of New Guinea" in the Proc. Phil. Soc. 

 Glasgow, xviii. p. 56. A valuable " Report on the 

 Toaripi and Korari Tribes " was printed in the Report 

 Austral. Assoc. Advaiic. Set. ii. 1890, p. 311. In 

 vol. xxvii. (1897) of the /ournal of the .Anthrop. Inst, he 

 published " X'ocabularies of the Bugilai and Tagota 

 Dialects, British New Guinea" (p. 139), "Toaripi" 

 (p. 326), " Anthropometrical Observations on some 

 Natives of the Papuan Gulf" (p. 335). Mr. Chaliners 

 has frequently sent ethnographical specimens to various 

 museums. The bulk of one large consignment was 

 acquired by the British Museum. These objects were 

 carefully labelled and were accompanied by a descriptive 

 catalogue, and many of his labels have been copied by 

 Edge-Vartington and Heape in their "Ethnographical 

 Album of the Pacific Islands." These collections con- 

 tained many specimens and the descriptions much in- 

 formation that was not previously known ; for example, 

 the collection included the first bull-roarer obtained on 

 the mainland of British New Guinea. 



Mr. Chalmers greatly assisted the Cambridge expedi- 

 tion to Torres Straits by lending his mission boat on 

 more than one occasion, and he hospitably entertained 

 several members of the expedition and otherwise ren- 

 dered valuable aid. 



A noble life of self-sacrifice was laid down for the 

 cause of peace, for, according to the telegram, he met a 

 glorious death while endeavouring to stop a tribal fight 

 on the -Aird River, a region which had not yet come 

 under missionary influence and over which the Govern- 

 ment had no control. .A very promising young coadjutor, 

 the Rev. Oliver Fellows Tomkins, who was dearly loved 

 by Chalmers, and twelve students, are reported to ha\-e 

 been murdered at the same time. 



Since the above was written a telegram has been 

 received confirming the former rumours. Mr. Chalmers, 

 like several other missionaries in New Guinea, has 

 falsely been reported to have been murdered on moi-e 

 than one occasion ; but we fear this time the news is 

 only loo true. A. C. Haddon. 



