l62 



NA TURE 



[June 13, 1901 



of the i8q7 Report is a full description of the use of a 

 Lorenz apparatus (constructed to Jones's designs for the 

 ■McGill University) in determining the absolute values of 

 the same four coils. From this it followed that a Board 

 of Trade ohm equalled 100026 true ohms. 



In the interim— viz. in 1896 — he gave an account of 

 the correction that would have to be made in consequence 

 of a very slight ellipticity of his large brass coil, which 

 he found to exist in 1894, and he showed that his 1900 

 value of io6'307 centimetres for the ohm would have to 

 be increased to io6'3i9 on this account. 



The formula developed by him in 1888 for the calcula- 

 tion of the mutual induction of a circle and a coa.\ial 

 helix, although comparatively simple, in view of the ac- 

 curacy obtained with its use, led, in reality, to a long 

 laborious calculation when employed in practice. Conse- 

 quently he spent some of the leisure of his voyage home 

 from Montreal in 1897 in working out a simplification of the 

 method previously described and a more general solution. 

 And the account of this formed the substance of the 

 paper he read before the Royal Society in November of 

 that year. 



Jones' ampere balance, briefly described in Appendix iii. 

 of the 1898 British Association Report, was designed of 

 a form which would readily lend itself to the use of a 

 new formula (also developed in the preceding Royal 

 Society paper) for the force between a uniform cylin- 

 drical current sheet and a coaxial helix, which could be 

 readily expressed in elliptic integrals. 



The liberality of the British Association, and of Sir 

 Andrew Noble, will enable his standard ampere balance 

 to be realised. The love of his friend will accomplish its 

 completion. 



Through Cardiff's hushed streets, contrasting strangely 

 with their noisy trafific of other Saturdays, the long pro- 

 cession, last week, wended its way. Bright was the van 

 with the mounted escort and the firemen's glittering 

 helmets, sombre the rear with the girl students in their 

 caps and gowns. By his father's side, high up on the 

 hill overlooking Swansea Bay, we laid him — the man of 

 high ideals, the man who had lived a long long life though 

 dead at the age of forty-five. \V. E. Ayrtox. 



It was right that one who did so much for the educa- 

 tional advancement of Wales should be given a public 

 funeral. A memorial service was held at the Park Hall, 

 Cardiff, on Saturday morning ; the Bishop of Llandaff 

 read the lessons, while the sermon was preached by the 

 Rev. J. Williamson. After the service there was a pro- 

 cession to the Great Western Railway Station, and the 

 gathering included representatives of important municipal 

 and public bodies, the University of Wales, the University 

 colleges of Wales and other educational authorities and 

 institutions. .^ special train conveyed the body and the 

 mourners to Swansea, where the interment took place, 

 the Mayor of Swansea and the members of the Corpora- 

 tion, as well as representatives of local educational bodies, 

 taking part in the mournful ceremony. 



NOTES. 

 The Royal Society announces that it is about to make the 

 first award of the Mackinnon research studentship. Tlie 

 studentship is founded under a bequest to the Royal Society 

 by the late Sir William Mackinnon, Director-General of the 

 Medical Department of the Army, of the residue of his estate 

 upon trust to be applied for the foundation and endowment of 

 such prizes or scholarships for the special purpose of furthering 

 natural and physical science, including geology and astronomy, 

 and of furthering original research and investigation in pathology 

 as tlie Society may think best and most conducive to the pro- 

 motion of those sciences and of original discoveries therein. The 



NO. 1650, VOL, 64] 



committee appointed by the council of the Royal Society to 

 advise upon the best mode of giving effect to the intentions o( 

 the testator recommended that the award should be in the 

 nature of a studentship for the encouragement of research rather 

 than a prize for the reward of past achievements, and that the 

 studentship should be devoted to the maintenance of a student 

 engaged in such researches as were indicated by the testator. 

 The studentship will be awarded this year in one of the biological 

 sciences, including physiology and anatomy, pathology, botany, 

 palaeontology and zoology ; it will be awarded for one year, but 

 will be renewable for a second year. The studentship is at 

 present of the annual value of 150/., but the awards may be 

 multiplied in future, upon the determination of certain out- 

 standing charges upon the property. Applications must be 

 received not later than June 26 by the assistant secretary of the 

 Royal Society, from whom further particulars may be obtained. 



The gold medal presented biennially by the Pharmaceutical 

 Society in memory of Daniel Hanbury, for high excellence in the 

 prosecution or promotion of research in connection with the 

 chemistry and natural history of drugs, has this year been 

 awarded to Dr. George Watt, reporter on economic products 

 to the Government of India. Dr. Watt, says the Pharma- 

 ceutical Journal^ was born at Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, on 

 April 24, 1851, and was educated at the Grammar School, 

 King's College, and Marischal College, Aberdeen, subsequently 

 graduating as M.B., with first-class honours, in the University 

 of Glasgow. He became assistant professor of botany at Aber- 

 deen in 1 87 1, and professor of botany at Calcutta University 

 in 1873. His best-known work is the "Dictionary of the 

 Economic Products of India," but he is also editor of the 

 Agricultural Ledger, and of the report of the Central In- 

 digenous Drugs Committee of India for 1900, as well as the 

 author of reports on the pests and blights of the tea plant, on 

 rhea and China grass, on lac and the lac industries of India, and 

 on a plague in the betti-nut palms of India. He has also pub- 

 lished a "Flora of Chamba,"a monograph on the Primulacene, 

 and other scientific and technical works. Dr. Watt is still 

 engaged in clearing up the difiiculties that surround the botanical 

 sources of aconite roots of Indian commerce, and has only 

 recently furnished material for the investigation of kino. 



The conditions which will control the administration of Mr. 

 Carnegie's munificent gift to Scottish Universities have now been 

 pubHshed, and they remove the difficulties which presented 

 themselves when the announcement of the donation was made, 

 but no particulars w-ere available as to its allocation. The 

 annual income from the trust is estimated at 104,000/., and 

 it is to be administered by an executive committee of nine 

 members, the first committee being constituted as follows : — 

 The Earl of Elgin, who is to act as chairman, Lord Balfour 

 of Burleigh, Lord Kinnear, Sir Henry E. Roscoe, Mr. 

 Shaw, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the Lord Provost of 

 Glasgow. Two remaining members are to be two of four 

 trustees nominated by the University Courts, the members for 

 Edinburgh and Aberdeen acting during the first two years, and 

 the members for Glasgow and St. Andrews acting during the 

 second two years. One-half of the net annual income is to be 

 applied towards the improvement and expansion of the Uni- 

 versities of Scotland in the faculties of science and medicine, 

 also for improving and extending the opportunities for scientific 

 study and research, and for increasing the facilities for acquiring 

 a knowledge of history, economics, English literature and 

 modern languages, and such other subjects cognate to a technical 

 or commercial education as can be brought within the scope of 

 the University curriculum. The other half of the income, or 

 such part thereof as in each year may be found requisite, is to 

 be devoted to the payment of the whole or part of the ordinary 

 class fees exigible by the Universities from students of Scottish 



