578 



NA TURE 



[October io, 1901 



proposed. The second half, which after passage of Nicol 

 2 is totally reflected at Nicol i and then returned upon 

 its course, on its arrival at Nicol 2 is not transmitted (as 

 Wien seems to suppose) but is totally reflected. When 

 again returned upon its course by a perpendicular reflector, 

 and again rotated through 45° by the magnetised medium, 

 it is in a condition to be completely transmitted by Nicol 

 I, and thus finds its way to body i, and not to body 2 as 

 the argument requires. The two bodies receive altogether 

 the same amount of radiation, and there is therefore no 

 tendency to a change of temperature. 



Although I have not been able to find any note of it, 

 I feel assured that the above reasoning was present to 

 my mind when I wrote the passage already cited. 



R.AYLEIGH. 



MARTIN F. WOODWARD. 



IN Martin Fountain Woodward, whose untimely death 

 by drowning we recorded in our issue of September 

 26, science has lost an untiring devotee, zoology a 

 brilliant student and investigator, a teacher whose per- 

 sonal influence and eNample will live in the memory of 

 those to whom he so willingly imparted knowledge. 



M. F. Woodward, younger son of Dr. H. Woodward, 

 F.R.S., keeper of the geological department of the British 

 Museum of Natural History, was born in London on 

 November 5, 1S65, and educated at Kensington Grammar 

 School. In 1S83 he entered the Royal School of Mines 

 and Normal School of Science as an associate student, 

 qualifying in 18S5 with distinction, as the recipient of 

 the Murchison medal and prize of books, for e.xcellence 

 in geology. In zoology he attended the last session's 

 work conducted by the late Prof. Huxley. In both ele- 

 mentary and advanced e.xaminalions he headed the pass- 

 list, and showed his power by an achievement in the 

 practical work which so far excelled all precedent that 

 for years his dissection was at Huxley's request kept for 

 use, as an ideal to which the ordinary student might 

 aspire. In this and his class-work combined, Woodward 

 evinced such special aptitude for biological study that 

 Huxley at once appointed him an assistant. In the 

 following year he was made demonstrator of zoology, 

 and in that capacity he continued to labour zealously 

 and with great ability for the remaining seventeen years 

 of his life, inspiring affection and respect in all with 

 whom he came in contact. 



With advancing years. Woodward developed a special 

 aptitude for microchemical work and marine investiga- 

 tion. His fame as a prepa rat eur brought to him numerous 

 friends and coworkers anxious to benefit by his assistance 

 and advice, who are to-day unanimous in their admiration 

 of his manipulative skill and mental attainments. His 

 mind was ever clear, his judgment sound, and by his 

 energetic enthusiasm and foresight he was at times 

 directly influential in uprooting error and misinterpreta- 

 tion in their work, thereby earning their lasting gratitude. 

 His leaning towards marine zoology received a welcome 

 impetus in an opportunity aftbrded him in the summer of 

 1887, by Mr. W. H. Hudleston, F.R.S., of conducting 

 a dredging tripm the English Channel, at the conclusion 

 of which his efforts elicued the high encomium of his 

 friend. He later spent his summer vacations in marine 

 research, exploring the fauna of the Channel Islands, 

 working at the Plymouth Marine Station, till finally, 

 through the instrumentality of Mr. E. W. L. Holt, whose 

 friendship he made while he was a student in our College, 

 he was enabled to spend his last three vacations at the 

 Marine Biological Laboratory of the Irish Fishery Board, 

 first at Inishbofin and then at Moyard, where he met his 

 death. Published reports bear testimony to the success 

 of his achievements, and in a recent letter the Vice- 

 President of the " Department of Agriculture and 



NO. 1667, VOL. 64] 



Technical Instruction for Ireland," under uhich the later 

 work was done, has highly eulogised his labours, char- 

 acter, and attamments. Only a few days before his 

 death. Woodward, in a letter to his friends, wrote with 

 delight of a 38o-fathoms haul, which had yielded a Halo- 

 porphyrus, a large Ponui/oiiuis, and about 20 .Astheno- 

 somas, rare captures for the British Seas. In describing 

 this catch he presented a word-picture worthy his high 

 artistic ability, which, while testifying to his own great 

 enthusiasm, appealed strongly to that of the zoologists to 

 whom it was communicated. 



Woodward from time to time published papers on sub- 

 jects of special study, the outcome of work done in 

 the scanty leisure his official duties allowed. Among the 

 earlier of these is a valuable paper in the Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. for 1892 on the dentition of Hyrax, Huxleyean in 

 its methods and based on the specimens briefly recorded 

 by Huxley in 1863. In this memoir much that was 

 hitherto confusing in the dentition both of Hyrax and 

 other placentalia was rendered clear, and through it 

 Woodward was led to an extended inquiry into the 

 genesis and succession of the teeth in the marsupialia, 

 with the result that his published memoirs placed him in 

 the front rank of comparative odontologists. To have 

 revolutionised our conceptions of the incisors of the 

 Diprotodonts, to have shown that the single so-called 

 successional cheek-tooth of the marsupialia is most 

 probably a retarded pre-molar, and to have contributed 

 to the unravelling of the intricacies of the tooth- complex 

 of the Insectivorn, is to have essayed a plucky task and 

 to have earned the lasting gratitude of zoologists of all 

 nationalities. 



Woodward, true to his family traditions, cultivated a 

 love of the MoUusca, and upon these animals he pub- 

 lished a series of most valuable papers, terminating in a 

 well-nigh exhaustive study of the famous Plcurotomaria^ 

 published in the Qii. Jour. iMicroscp. Sci. for 1891. His 

 papers upon other molluscs were for the greater part 

 contributed to the Proceedings of the Malacological 

 Society, of which he was one of the original members and 

 the secretary at the time of his death. To read these 

 memoirs is to appreciate the fact that Woodward possessed 

 a knowledge of molluscan morphology second to that of 

 no living malacotomist, and his discussion of the affinities 

 of the Monotocardia set forth in his last published paper 

 may be recommended to those who would gauge his 

 reasoning capacity. Upon the MoUusca he had long 

 specialised, and his concluding act as a teacher w'as a 

 course of lectures at the Royal College of Science which 

 for depth and originality of treatment will be a lasting 

 memorial to his powers to those who were so fortunate 

 as to hear them. They embodied his preliminary notes 

 and ideas for a book he had intended to write, and it is 

 terrible to think that with his death this brilliant achieve- 

 ment has been cut short. 



Ever alert for a new observation. Woodward, as oppor- 

 tunity occurred, made public his passing notes. As an 

 example may be cited his intensely interesting discovery 

 of an earthworm possessed of seven pairs of ovaries. 

 He performed a notable task, involving the spare time of 

 three of his best years, in editing the English edition of 

 vols ii., iii. and iv. of Korschelt and Heider's " Text-book 

 of Embryology," the emendations, curtailments, and 

 annotations which he effected materially increasing the 

 value of the work. 



Woodward was always ready to cooperate with friends 

 and fellow workers in anything which would advance our 

 knowledge of the phenomena of life. He leaves behind 

 him a magnificent series of photomicrographs of the 

 fertilisation process in Ascaris megaloirphala, made from 

 sections which he had prepared, and an extensive series 

 of preparations, drawings, and notes, upon the spermato- 

 genesis of the MoUusca, the rough arrangement of which, 

 constituted the closing act of his College life. 



