December 5, [918 



NATURE 



2 75 



Apart from these investigations, leading n> results 

 so simple and definite, there is much descriptive work 

 :.i standing to the credit of Prof. Fowler and 

 lii^ pupils, which is highl) appreciated In sp 

 for its accuracy and technical value. 



A Royal Mi irded to Prof. Frederick 



GOW I ASH HpPKINS. 



Prof. Hopkins was among the \.i\ earliest, if not 

 actually tin- earliest, I > recognise and announce that 

 minute quantities ol certain bodies, the nutritive value 

 of which had hitherto been unsuspected, i 

 enormous influenc upon growth and upon normal 

 adult nutrition. ll< showed thai without thesi aco 



i. tors — vitamines a diet otherwise full and 

 seemingly complete is incapable of allowing 



of maintaining body-weight or life. He lias 

 also madi importan into what may be 



styled the determination of me specific nutritive values 

 of individual main components oi the protein molecule; 

 he has, for exampli , shown thai whin, from a certain 

 diel which was proved to maintain nutrition satisfac- 

 torily, the two amino-acids, arginine and histidine, 

 removed, the diet, though amph suffi- 

 cient in energj and fully assimilable, tailed to main- 

 tain life. 



More no-nth Hopkins has attacked the question 

 .111 animal's life can l>c maintained under the 

 condition that, in place ol protein 01 oi the entire set 

 of amino-acids constituting protein, a limited few of 

 th( several representative types ol these constituents 

 an provided in the diet. He shows thai when, in- 

 stead of the eighteen differenl amino-acids composing 

 itein, five onl} are administered, detith rapidh 

 ensues if those live be selected from the simpler 

 aliphatic components, e.g. leucine, valine, alanine, 

 and glutamic acid, but that, on the other 

 hand, nutrition and lit- an satisfactorily maintained, 

 at least for a considerable period, if the live amino- 

 acids given be chosen from the more complex types, 

 sine, tryptophane, histidine, lysine, and 

 which experiment has shown to lie outside 

 he synthetic power of the animal body. 

 The Rumfoi awarded to Dr. A. Peroi 



and Prof. Charles Fabry. 



MM. Perot and Fabrj have introduced a new- 

 method of measuring wave-lengths by an ingenious 

 of utilising tin luminous rings formed bj 

 1 ' ■ ig plati -. Their re- 

 have proved of fundamental importance :- 

 comparing the wave-lengths ol 



lines with that of some standard 

 lite . 



comparing directl\ the wave-length of the 



I line with that i>\ the standard unit of length, 

 ["his comparison litis confirmed in a remarkable waj 



-mi . in. nt ol Michelson, whose 

 -. less direct and moi'- liable to certain errors. 

 The independent confirmation thus obtained has then - 

 for. placed the subject mi a much firmer basis. 



Ih. I>\\\ Mbdal i- awarded to Prof. F. Stanley 

 Kipping. 



Prof. Kipping has worked with distinction during 



great variety of problems 



1 with organic chemistry, involving fattj 



ivatives .>t hydrindone, camphoric acid and 



its halogen compounds, tin- ir-derivatives of camphor, 



racemism and pseudo-tacemism, derivatives of quin- 



II nitrogen, organic compounds of silicon, in- 

 cluding derivatives having optical activity due to thi 

 asymmetry of th< silicon atom. 



The Darwin Mbdal is awarded to Dr. Henry 

 Fairfield Osborn. 



Dr. Osbnrn's chief work has been in palaeontology, 

 and, in connection with it, he has organised many 

 expeditions to the early Tertiary rocks of 

 NO. 2562, VOL. I02] 



the West. One of the results ,,| his work is the more 

 pi. us,- determination ol the relative ages of the ex- 

 tinct mammals in North America, and that has led 

 io a correlation between the order of succession of 

 tli. Mammalia in Europe and in America. A 

 deal ot this work was summarised in his book, "The 

 Age of Mammals in Europe, \- lia, and ' North 

 America," published in 1910. In 1 Osborn had 



to the conclusion thai the common ancestors ol 



idia, Sirenia, and Hyracoidea would be found 



in Africa; and the correctness ol th since 



been confirmed by Dr. Andrew's discoveries in the 



1.111 [''.num. Amongst the more important of 

 Osborn's contributions to our knowledge of extinct 

 Vertebrata are his memoirs on the rhinoceroses, the 

 horses, the titanotheres, and the dinosaurs. In addi- 

 tion to all the work he has don.- personally, Dr. 



Osborn has had a wide and most beneficial infll 



upon biological research in North America, and he 

 has produced a nourishing school of younger vertebrate 



palaeontologists. 



The I Ironies Medai is awarded to Mr. Irving 

 Langmuir. 



Mr. Irving Langmuir is a distinguished worker in 

 the physics and methods of production of high vacua. 

 He h;ts sludi.-d the vapour pressure of platinum and 

 molybdenum by heating fine wires in vacuo and noting 

 the loss of weight, lie has investigated the speeds of 

 chemical reaction of different gases on various metals 

 at very low pressures. He has investigated also the 

 dissociation of hydrogen and its apparent abnormal 

 heat conductivity, and the dissociation of chlorine and 

 oxygen; also the chemical activity of dissociated 

 hydrogen. His work on the emission of electrons 

 from hot metals in high vacua led to the evolution of 

 the "kenotron" and "pliotron," and of the "half- 

 watt" lamp. His determination of the melting-point 

 of tungsten is generally accepted. Much of his work, 

 such as tin- investigation of the cause of blackening 

 of tungsten lamps, is of commercial as well as of 

 academic scientific value. 



Report of the Council. 



Several matters referred to in the report of tin- 

 council have already been dealt with in these columns. 

 Among these are the resolutions as to enemy aliens 

 and foreign membership of the society, brought for- 

 ward in June and July last, and the question of the 

 future of international scientific organisations. I he 

 former matter was referred to the Inter-Allied Con- 

 ference, held at the Royal Societv in October hist 

 (see Nature, October 17, p. 133, and November 14, 

 p. 212), and it has been further considered by the 

 conference which has just met in Paris. Other sub- 

 jects dealt with in the report include the following : 



Bureau of Longitude. 

 At the request of th.- Admiralty the council has 

 had under consideration a proposal that a body corre- 

 sponding to the French Bureau des Longitudes should 

 be established in thi- country, which should form an 

 authoritative bodv to which any administrative ques- 

 tion- involving scientific consideration of time or posi- 

 tion could 1"- referred. The following recommenda- 

 tions of a committee appointed by the council were 

 forwarded to the Admiralty: — "(1) That the constitu- 

 tion of tin advisory board such as that contemplated 

 would present sufficient advantages to justify its estab- 

 lishment. 12) That the functions of the board cannbl 

 1..- so extensive as those of the French Bureau des 

 Longitudes, or identical with those of the previous 

 Board of Longitude in this country. (;,) That it 

 should I..- formed by representatives of various Govern- 

 ment Departments and scietv 3, together 



