468 



NATURE 



I February 



13. [919 



rest his glance on the lowei pan oi a windmill 



still known as linen's Mill. This belonged to 



■ 1 oi the mathematician. The neighbours 



nd on the tradition thai the youthful genius 



within the walls of this building. 



Ik WW ( \\< ING] R. 



NOTES. 



I hi King i >p. ned 1 he new Pai liami nl in pei si m 

 or I ui sdaj , Febi uar) 11. In his Spi e< h n fei enci 

 was made to proposals to bi brought forward foi thi 



1 ipn 1 scheme oi afforestation 



.mil to "a Bill for thi 1 1 a new Ministry to 



deal with public health, with a view to the establish- 

 ment throughout thi land oi a scientific and en- 

 lightened health 01 ation to combat disease and 



', i conserve the rigoui ol thi raci 



\\ 1 deeph regrei to announce the death on 

 1'i'ln nan ' ii, in his eighty-fourth year, of Prut. (i. 

 Care) Foster, F.R.S., formerl) principal of University 

 College, London, and previously professor of physics 

 there from [865 to 1898. The funeral will be at 

 Rickmansworth Cemetery to-morrow (Friday) at 3.15. 



Sir Richard Iih-mimi, formerly professor of 

 physics in the University of Sydney, has been elected 

 a member of the Athenaeum Club under the provisions 

 ..I' the ruli- of the club which empowers the annual 

 election by the committee of a certain number nl 

 persons "of distinguished eminence in science, litera- 

 ture, the .ui-, or tin' public service." 



Sir Ronald Kuss, who is consultant in malaria in 

 the War Office, ha- been appointed honorary con- 

 sultant in malaria cases to the Ministry of Pensions. 



Wk regrei in sei the announcement of the death, 

 at sixtv-two years of age, of Prof. R. A. E. Blanchard, 

 professor of parasitology in the faculty of medicine, 

 I niversity ol Paris, and author of numerous con- 

 tributions to zoology, physiology, comparative anatomy, 

 and hygiene, in addition to his works on parasites 

 and parasitic diseases. 



The death i- announced, in his sixty-seventh year, 

 of Dr. Rolla C. Carpenter, who occupied a chair "I 

 engineering at Cornell University from 1S95 to 1917. 

 Dr. Carpenter had been concerned at various times in 

 important engineering enterprises of the cities of Balti- 

 m.ne, Brooklyn, and New York. In [898 he was 

 president of the American Society nl Keating and 

 Ventilating Engineers. lie was the author of 

 1 realises mi experimental engineering, heating and 

 '."nidation, and the gas-engine. 



Next Tuesday, February i8 ; , ('apt. G. P. Thomson 

 will give the first of two lectures at the Royal Institu- 

 tion on " Aeroplanes and the Great War." On Thursday, 

 I in 11 . Prof. H. M. Lefroy will give the first of 



two lii hi mi "Insect Enemies of our Food Sup- 

 plies"; and tl second on Thursday, February 27, on 

 '* How Silk is ( e own and Made." The Friday evening 

 discourse on 1 tan 21 will be delivered by Mr. A. T. 

 Hare on " Clocl I .11 minis"; and on February 28 

 b\ Prnf. J, \ ,\,t I. 11. 1 iii 1 mi "Nuclei and Ions." 

 On Sa tor day, Februan 22, at 3 o'clock, the Hon. 

 J. W. Fortesrue will give the first of two lectures on 

 "The Empire's Shan 1 Ei gland's Wars-." 



Diking the war the interest- of patentee- have bei n 



adverse!) affected, and probabh none more so than 



thosi connected with the chemical industries. Mam 



patentees have been unable to usi 1 develop theii 



\< 1. 2572, VOL. I02] 



patents, whilst in some cases where patents have bi 1 



ted the hum publication of the grant has b 

 forbidden Attention is directed to these facts in thi 

 1 hemical Trade Journal of January 25. Represents 

 linn- havi ah 1 aib been made in the < onti olli 

 Patenl and oi Munitions 1m ns, bul it i- sug- 

 gested thai Furthei co-ordinated action is desirable 

 gel the position readjusted. Inasmuch as mam 

 holders of British patents have, in the national 

 niiei . 1 , ti ei l\ all' iw< d the usi oi theii patents For 

 the period of the w ar, il is 1 laimi d that the lifi 

 oi those pati in - should I pondingl; . 



W'r regrei to barn from the Journal d> 



tours (vol. ii.. No. u) that M. Jerfi 1 < died 



ni. n \ 15. \l. Coggia was born in 1849, and 



ei lies Ob 01 moi e than 



lili\ years. I Ii- 1 oil. agui ts " un 



a -t mm mie aclif, habile el consi en . el un bom me 



de cceur." lie i- best known for his discover) oi the 



brilliant coi N74 III., bul he also discovered seven 



other comets and six iiiinni planets. Another dis- 

 cover! 1 ni i arkabli cornel has passed awa) 



person ol Mr. Edwin Holmes, a prominent membei ol 

 the British Astronomical Association and a regulai 

 attendant at its meetings. The comet of short period 

 that he found in November, 189Z, was distingui 



by two brilliant outbursts, after each nl which it 



expanded rapidl) and became difficult to see. It has 

 been re-observed at two out of the three return- that 



it ha- made since then, but ha- never repeated its 



interesting beha^ ioar of 1892. 



The deaths of the following engineers are announced 

 in the Engineer and in Engineering for Februar) 7: 

 Mr. Thomas Wright, late general works manager of 

 the Dowson-Mason <>a- Plant Co. He had been 

 recognised for mam years as an expert in the con- 

 struction nl coal- and gas-fired furnaces, and was a 

 member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the 

 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Iron and 

 Steel Institute, and the Farada) Society. — Mr. Edward 

 Cecil [ngleby, who died on January 24 after a long 

 illness, was a director of the firm of [ngleby and 

 Co., Ltd., electrical engineers, and an associate 



number of the Institution of Civil Engineers. — Mr. 

 George Cuming, who was in his forty-eighth year, and 

 for thirty-two years bad been connected with the lirm 

 of Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Belfast, latterl) as 

 engineering manager. He was a member of the 

 Institution oi Mechanical Engineers, and also of the 

 Institution of Naval Architects, and was made an 

 officei of the Order of the British Empire in 1017. 

 II. took an important part in the development of 

 the steam turbim for steamship propulsion. 



Designers of motor-cycles have for some' time past 



felt that 1111 adequate mean- exist to admit nf Iheir 

 meeting together for the purpose of ventilating and 

 discussing the difficulties of the many problems with 

 which lhe\ are confronted from time to time. In 

 consequence, a representation on the subject was 

 recent!) placed before the Institution of Automobile 

 Engineers at a conference attended by technical repre- 

 sentatives of some of the motor-cycle manufacturing 



firms. The institution has now arranged for two 

 meetings to be held at the Birmingham Chamber of 

 Commerce expressly for the discussion of points con- 

 nected with the design of motor-cvcles. The first ol 

 thesi meetings will be held on Thursday,! ■ 

 when Mr. D. S. Healher will read a paper entitled 

 "A Surve) of Current Motor-cycle Design"; and tin 

 second me. ling will in- held on Thursday, March 20, 



when Mi b'.ric ('.indwell will read a paper the till' 

 of which is not vet announced. Those who desire to 



