July 14, 1904] 



NA TURE 



247 



experiments ; the performance of this instrument is very 

 fine ; the quantity of radium enclosed is nearly 3 milli- 

 gframs ; this produces a discharge at intervals of about 

 70 seconds — this rate is not in any way altered by attaching 

 the coherer and apparatus. F. Harrison Glew. 



156 Clapham Road, S.\V., July i. 



THE MEMORIAL JO SIR GEORGE STOKES. 



OX Thursday last, July 7, the memorial to Sir George 

 Gabriel Stokes was unveiled in Westminster 

 Abbey by the Duke of Devonshire in his capacity of 

 Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. 



The initial steps for the erection of this memorial 

 were taken at a joint meeting of representatives 

 of the Royal Society and the University of Cam- 

 bridge, held in the Royal Society's rooms on 

 March 12, 1903, when 'a committee was constituted 

 to devise measures for providing a public me- 

 morial to commemorate the scientific career of Sir 

 George Stokes and to take steps for carrying the 

 project into effect. On that occasion it was decided 

 to send a letter, in the names of the Chancellor of the 

 University of Cambridge and the president of the 

 Royal Society, requesting the authority of tlie Dean 

 and Chapter of Westminster to place a memorial in 

 the Abbey in the form of a medallion relief portrait 

 of Sir George Gabriel Stokes, of the same general 

 character as the memorials of Charles Darwin and 

 other scientific men now in the Abbey. At the same 

 time a subcommittee was formed to collect sub- 

 scriptions for the purpose in view, and for carrying 

 out the resolution of the full committee. In response 

 to the committee's application the Dean gave his 

 assent to the proposal, and agreed to take detailed 

 plans into consideration. The subcommittee conse- 

 quently, in consultation with the Dean, offered a 

 commission to Mr. Hamo Thorncycroft, R.A., to 

 ixecute a medallion. 



The ceremony on Thursday was preceded by a 

 meeting, in the Jerusalem Chambtr, of subscribers to 

 the memorial, and personal friends of Sir George 

 Stokes. The meeting was presided over by the Dean, 

 and was attended by many distinguished men of 

 science and of letters. The Dean was supported by the 

 Duke of Devonshire, Sir William Huggins, president 

 of the Royal Society, Lord Kelvin, Lord Rayleigh, 

 Prof. Larmor, and Prof. Forsyth (honorary secretaries 

 to the memorial fund), and Mr. Kempe, treasurer of 

 the Royal Society. There were present also the 

 American Ambassador, Mr. Bryce, Sir William 

 Crookes, Prof. George Darwin, Sir James Dewar, 

 Sir Joseph Fayrer, Principal Carey Foster, Mr. Francis 

 Galton, Sir John Gorst, Prof. Liveing, Sir Norman 

 Lockyer, Sir Andrew Noble, Dr. Thorpe, and many 

 other fellows of the Royal Society. 



Prof. Larmor read letters from the Prime Minister, 

 Lord Lister, Sir Joseph Hooker, Sir Michael Foster, 

 Lord Goschen, Lord .'\vebury, and others expressing 

 regret for their unavoidable absence. 



The Dean opened the proceedings, and prefaced his re- 

 marks by directing attention to the increasing difficulty 

 of finding space within the Abbey for such memorials 

 as that which they were met to dedicate. He stated 

 the history of the movement described above, and re- 

 ferred to the wonderful trio of famous senior wranglers 

 occurring in successive years, Stokes, Cayley, and 

 Adams, followed two years later by Lord Kelvin, 

 and enlarged upon Stokes's lofty personal character, 

 his peculiar greatness of mind, his generosity, and 

 his humility. The Dean regretted the impracticability 

 of devising a motto for tlie memorial tablet which 

 could with sufficient terseness express the comprehen- 

 sive range of Stokes's genius. 



NO. 181 I, VOL. 70] 



The Dean then called upon Sir William Huggins, 

 president of the Royal Society, who, after referring to 

 the part the Royal Society had taken in the movement 

 for the memorial, spoke of the great services rendered 

 to the Royal Society by Sir George Stokes during his 

 thirty-one years' tenure of the secretaryship of the 

 Society and his subsequent five years' occupancy of the 

 presidential chair. Sir William referred to the wide 

 range of Stokes's discoveries and particularly to the 

 great advances which he made in the application of 

 mathematics to physics. He extolled the wonderfully 

 even balance of his powers and his remarkable sound- 

 ness of judgment, and contended that his influence on 

 his time was due as much to his greatness of character 

 as to his intellectual accomplishments. He therefore 

 held him worthy of a shrine by the side of Newton,. 

 Herschel, Darwin, Adams, and Joule. 



Lord Kelvin described in some detail, and eulogised 

 the great range and broad aspect of Stokes's work in 

 science, and pointed out how fruitful it had been of 

 great developments in recent times. He referred to- 

 his investigations upon elasticity, his paper of 1850- 

 upon water waves, his researches in light and optics, 

 and particularly to his discovery of fluorescence ; and 

 reminded his hearers that Stokes's work and thought 

 are but partially represented by his published writings. 

 He recalled the indebtedness of many authors of 

 scientific papers to Stokes for aid and illumination 

 received from him during his long secretaryship of 

 the Royal Society, and in feeling terms referred to his 

 own relations with Stokes, saying, " For sixty years, 

 of my own life I looked upon Stokes as my teacher^ 

 guide, and friend. His death was for me truly a 

 bereavement." 



Lord Rayleigh, speaking as a pupil of Sir George 

 Stokes, described his experiences as a student at his 

 lectures, and the unbounded admiration he always 

 felt for him as a teacher, a man, and an investigator. 

 He held up as an example still to be followed the 

 simplicity of Stokes's experimental methods and his- 

 limitation of his apparatus to the bare essentials for 

 the demonstration of the principles he was expound- 

 ing. Lord Rayleigh referred more particularly _tO' 

 some experiments and investigations of Stokes, in- 

 cluding those on the spectrum of the blood, on_ the 

 theory of spectrum analysis, and to some of his inci- 

 dental papers on acoustics, and said that Stokes's 

 papers, whether mathematical or physical, or both,, 

 were always interesting to read. 



The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cam- 

 bridge, speaking on behalf of the University, wel- 

 comed the honour done to Stokes's memory by thi-s- 

 memorial. He paid an eloquent tribute to his great 

 character, to his loyalty and affection for his university 

 and college, and said that the university rejoiced that 

 his name would now have a permanent memorial on 

 the historic w'alls of that great national church. 



The company then proceeded to the Abbey, where, 

 after a prayer from the Dean, the Dul^e of Devon- 

 shire removed the cover from the medallion, which 

 hangs on the wall with those of Adams and Darvi-in 

 in the north aisle of the choir of the Abbey. 



The Duke of Devonshire said, " Speaking on behalf 

 of the subscribers, I offer this medallion to be added' 

 to the memorials and to be preserved in the Abbey 

 church." 



The Dean responded, " Speaking in the name of the 

 Dean and Chapter of Westminster, I accept this 

 medallion to keep and preserve among the memorials 

 of the good and great men in this place." 



The memorial is in the form of a bronze medallion, 

 with a portrait head of Sir George Stokes in ver3r 

 high relief, and bears the inscription, " George Gabriel 

 Stokes, 1819-1903." 



