586 
NATURE 
[APRIL 21, 1904 
NOTES. 
WE notice with deep regret that Sir Clement Le Neve 
Foster, F.R.S., professor of mining in the Royal College 
of Science, died in London on Tuesday, at sixty-three years 
of age. 
Tue Faraday lecture of the Chemical Society was delivered 
at the Royal Institution on Tuesday by Prof. W. Ostwald, 
his subject being ‘‘ Elements and Compounds.’ At the 
end of the lecture, Prof. Tilden, who occupied the chair 
as president of the society, presented Prof. Ostwald with 
a medal bearing the image of Faraday, which had been 
specially struck in commemoration of the occasion. A vote 
of thanks for the lecture was proposed by Prof. Dewar, 
seconded by Prof. Thorpe, and supported by Lord Rayleigh. 
Mr. Francis Gatton is about to address a circular letter 
and a schedule of questions to each fellow of the Royal 
Society on ‘‘ Ability in Families.’ He asks for a return 
‘of those relatives in specified near degrees who have 
achieved any kind of ‘‘ noteworthy ’’ success. This is de- 
fined to be a success in any pursuit whatever that ranks 
among those who follow that pursuit at least as high as 
success in gaining the title of F.R.S. ranks among men of 
science. Nothing is desired that is otherwise than honour- 
able to members of the family, and nothing that has not 
already appeared in print, though it would be very difficult, 
if not impossible, for a stranger to hunt it all out for 
himself. This new form of hereditary inquiry is expected 
to be fruitful of results, and will probably be extended in 
other directions after the experience of the present attempt. 
Tue death is announced of Dr. A. P. Aitken, professor 
of chemistry and toxicology in the Royal (Dick) Veterinary 
‘College, Edinburgh, since 1875 
75- 
Mr. Percy Lonemuir, of U niversity College, Sheffield, 
has been appointed junior assistant in the metallurgical de- 
partment of the National Physical Laboratory. Mr. Long- 
muir is a pupil of Prof. Arnold, and has for two years been 
engaged in research as a Carnegie scholar of the Iron and 
Steel Institute. He will at present assist Dr. Carpenter in 
carrying on the worl undertaken by the laboratory for the 
Alloys Research Committee of the Institution of Mechanical 
Engin2ers. 
As the searches hitherto made for 
expedition have been in vain, 
Baron Toll’s polar 
a reward of 5000 roubles 
(500l.) is offered by the Academy of Sciences at St. Peters- 
burg for finding the whole aon party, or any part 
of it, and a reward of 2500 roubles (25o0l.) for giving the 
first exact indications of tracing se party. The expedi- 
tion, which was sent out by the Academy of Sciences, left 
the Bennett Island, lying north of New Siberia, on October 
26 (November 8), 1902, taking a southern direction. It has 
been that the expedition have drifted 
Franz Josef Land, and it is therefore desired to 
direct the special attention of whalers to this notice. 
suggested may 
towards 
Tne Weights and 
greater uniformity 
Bill, 
administration of the law relating 
to weights and measures, 
Measures designed to secure 
in the 
in the 
April 15. In moving the second 
Bousfield explained the provisions of the Bill, 
and pointed out that the fourth section of the Bill had refer- 
ence to the metric system. It was proposed that after 
January 1, 1908, the two abnormal systems of troy weight 
and apothecaries’ weight should be abolished in favour of 
This would produce no disorganisation 
of trade, and would be an instalment of the reform desired, 
NO. 1799, VOL. 69] 
was read a second time 
House of Commons on 
reading, Mr. 
the metric system. 
which, although a measure was now before the other House, 
it was unlikely that any Government would make en bloc, 
as it would at first result in unpopularity. In the subsequent 
debate many objections were raised to this section of the 
Bill, and it was on the understanding that the section refer- 
ring to the metric system was to be withdrawn that the 
Bill was read a second time. 
WE regret to see the announcement of the death of Sir 
Henry Thompson, distinguished as a surgeon and by his 
active interest in many departments of science. Sir Henry 
Thompson was born at Framlingham, Suffolk, on August 
6, 1820, and received his early education at University 
College, London. He gained the Jacksonian prize of the 
Royal College of Surgeons in 1852 and 1860 for essays on 
surgical subjects. In 1866 he was appointed professor of 
clinical surgery in University College Hospital; and in 
1884 he became professor of pathology and surgery to the 
Royal College of Surgeons. He took a leading part in 
the establishment of cremation in this country as a proper 
method of disposal of the dead, and was president of the 
Cremation Society from its foundation in 1874. He was the 
author of numerous works, including volumes and papers on 
the branches of surgery in which he was an acknowledged 
master, On motor cars, horses, diet and death certification, 
and also of two novels. years he culti- 
vated astronomical studies, and had a well equipped observ- 
atory constructed at Molesey, but this was abandoned after 
a time, and the two fine refractors were presented to the 
Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Later, in 1897, Sir Henry 
Thompson added to his gift the thirty inch photographic 
reflector which bears his name. He was knighted in 1867 
and created a baronet in 1899, and was the recipient , of 
many honours and distinctions from professional and other 
both at home and abroad. 
For several 
learned societies, 
Pror. C. L. Bristot, professor of biology, New York 
University, asks us to announce that English and Conti- 
nental naturalists will be gladly welcomed at the Bermuda 
Biological Station for Research. Harvard University and 
New York University unite with the Bermuda Natural 
History Society in inviting zoologists and botanists to spend 
six weeks in this temporary biological station, to be situ- 
ated, as last year, at the Flatts, Bermuda. The laboratory 
is a new building, and is furnished with all the ordinary 
glassware, reagents and apparatus provided in modern 
marine laboratories; but microscopes, dissecting instru- 
ments, slides and cover glasses are not supplied by the 
station. The means of collectine include a steam launch 
forty-five feet long and crew, a fish-well sailboat and 
crew, rowboats, u two-horse carriage carrying ten or twelve 
persons, nets, seins, water glasses, towing and dredging 
apparatus, &c. Zoologists and botanists who desire to take 
advantage of the opportunities offered by the station should 
send applications as early as possible, and not later than 
May 1, either to Prof. E. L. Mark, 109 Irving Street, Cam- 
bridge, Mass., or to Prof. C. L. Bristol, New York Uni- 
versity, University Heights, New York City. 
\tuere is at Durango, Mexico, a great mass of iron ore 
which has figured in story and fable for 300 years, and was 
thought to be a meteorite by Humboldt, who, however, did 
not quite reach Durango in his explorations. Mr. Le Roy, 
the United States Consul at Durango, now reports that the 
mass proves to be a remarkable dyke, emerging from a 
rocky plain at the elevation of 6300 feet, rising from 400 
feet to 650 feet in height itself, and forming a mass of iron 
ore a mile long and one-third of a mile wide. It has been 
calculated that it contains 500 to 660 million gross tons 
above the surface, while there are no means of knowing 
