OcToBER 2, 1913] 
Having a distinct leaning towards mineralogy 
and crystallography, he devoted a considerable 
amount of study to these subjects also, and pub- 
lished several useful crystallographical papers; but 
inorganic chemistry claimed most of his attention, 
and his later papers as a rule savoured more or 
less of persulphates in some of their varied inter- 
actions. Thus, either alone or in collaboration 
with others, he published papers describing the 
action of persulphates on iodine, silver salts, thio- 
sulphates, &c. ; and the neat modification of Crum’s 
test for manganese, in which potassium per- 
sulphate is employed as oxidising agent instead of 
lead peroxide, was devised and elaborated into a 
quantitative colorometric method by him. Other 
papers dealt with thallic sulphate; rubidium, 
cesium, and thallium persulphates; quantitative 
analysis by electrolytic methods; succinic acid and 
succinates ; the compound of iodine with thiocarb- 
amide, &c. 
In addition to his chemical investigations he 
found time to examine some technical subjects, 
and his work upon the burning of mixtures of air 
and light hydrocarbon vapour led to the perfecting 
of the ‘ Petrolite” safety incandescent lamp, for 
‘which he was awarded prizes by the Edinburgh 
Association of Science and Art, and the Royal 
Scottish Society of Arts. He also devised a 
simplified form of Bunsen burner which was parti- 
cularly suitable for use by beginners in laboratory 
practice. The Keith prize and gold medal for the 
period 1899-1901 was awarded to him by the 
Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his 
researches on persulphates. He was elected to 
fellowship of the Royal Society in 1904, and to 
the chair of chemistry in Dundee in 1908. With, 
to all appearance, many years for good work 
still before him, Dr. Marshall was a man whom 
inorganic chemistry could ill afford to lose. 
LEONARD DosBIN. 
NOTES. 
Reuter’s Agency is informed that Sir David Bruce 
will leave England on November 1 for the purpose of 
concluding his sleeping sickness investigations in 
Central Africa. He will be accompanied by Lady 
Bruce, who is herself a memper of the Commission. 
Sir David and Lady Bruce will sail in the Edinburgh 
Castle from Southampton, and will proceed to Cape 
Town, whence they will travel by train to Beira. 
From that place they intend to go up the Zambesi 
and Shire rivers to Lake Nyasa. 
The Paris correspondent of The Times reports the 
death of the toxicologist, Dr. Jules Ogier, at sixty 
years of age. Our contemporary gives the following 
particulars of Dr. Ogier’s career :—After some years’ 
work with Berthelot, during which period his writings 
on arsenic and other poisons attracted considerable 
attention, he was appointed director of toxicology at 
the Prefecture of Police, where his work was of the 
greatest value to justice. He planned most of the 
large water systems in France, and his labours in 
connection with the purification of drinking water 
have been of great service to public health. He was 
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NATURE 
139 
in a way the creator of modern toxicological chemistry, 
and his many works include a treatise which has 
become a classic in that branch of science. 
TuE seventeenth annual autumn foray of the British 
Mycological Society was held at Haslemere on Sep- 
tember 22-27, the Haslemere Educational Museum, 
founded by the late Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, serving 
as headquarters during the meeting. A well-arranged 
programme of excursions was planned by Mr. E. W. 
Swanton, and a large number of fungi were col- 
lected, including many rare and interesting forms. 
The mornings were generally devoted to the examina- 
tion and arrangement of specimens, some of the 
most noteworthy of which were :—Rhizopogon 
rubescens, Hydnum melaleucum, H. Queletii, Sparassis 
laminosa, Clavaria formosa, Cortinarius bolaris, 
Mycena crocata, and Sclerotinia baccarum, and also 
the Mycetozoa, Licea pusilla, Hemitrichia clavata, 
Oligonema nitens, and Diderma simplex. On 
Wednesday evening, September 24, Mr. A. D. Cotton 
(president for the year) delivered an address entitled 
“Suggestions as to the Study and Critical Revision 
of Certain Genera of Agaricacez,” pointing out the 
urgent need of critical work, and emphasising the 
diagnostic value of certain microscopic characters. 
Other members contributed papers, namely, Mr. 
F. T. Brooks, on pure cultures of several Basidio- 
mycetes and Ascomycetes; Prof. Buller, on the 
hymenium-structure in Hymenomycetes; and Mr. J. 
Ramsbottom, on the history of the classification of 
Discomycetes. In passing a vote of thanks to the 
trustees of the museum, the hope was expressed that 
the scientific and educational work hitherto carried on 
there would be continued, and that it would be 
possible to establish the museum upon a permanent 
basis. The officers elected for 1914 were :—President, 
Prof. A. H. R. Buller; vice-president, Miss G. Lister ; 
honorary secretary and treasurer, Mr. Carleton Rea; 
the localities for the spring and autumn meetings 
being the Forest of Dean and Doncaster respectively. 
AT a conference held on September 19 in the rooms 
of the Linnean Society, Burlington House, Dr. A. B. 
Rendle, F.R.S., gave an account of the inception and 
activities of the plant protection section of the Sel- 
borne Society, under the auspices of which the meet- 
ing had been called, and outlined the various causes 
at work tending to the diminution or extermination 
of native plants in Britain—the building over of sub- 
urban and rural districts, drainage of marshes and 
bogs, smoke pollution, excessive collecting of rare 
plants by botanists and their agents, the wholesale 
digging up of both rare and common species by 
hawkers, &c. A brisk discussion followed regarding 
the proposed remedial measures for the preservation 
of the British flora; and though this was marked by 
considerable divergences of opinion, it was generally 
agreed that on one hand much remained to be done 
in the way of arousing public interest in the matter, 
while on the other there was much to be said for the 
introduction of legislation which should secure at 
least the same degree of protection and scheduling 
of plants as that afforded to bird-life by the Wild 
Birds Protection Acts. Several speakers pointed out 
