OcToBER 9, 1913] 
NATURE 
173 
Pare) 
chemistry as a science in this country, but did much 
to improve British agriculture and raise it to its 
present high level. It also played a great part in 
developing the artificial fertiliser industry, which has 
remained an essentially British industry and has now 
assumed vast dimensions. The whole country has 
gained enormously through the work of these two 
men. It is therefore felt that the appeal should be 
national, and several committees have been formed 
for the purpose. Men of science have many calls 
on them, but it is hoped, nevertheless, that the sym- 
pathy which everyone feels with the Rothamsted 
work will manifest itself by practical assistance 
towards its development. Subscriptions should be 
sent to the Secretary, Rothamsted Experimental 
Station, Harpenden, Herts. 
Ir is with great regret that we record the dis- 
appearance of Dr. Rudolph Diesel from the G.E.R. 
steamer Dresden on her voyage from Antwerp to 
Harwich on the night of September 29; the circum- 
stances are such as to leave no hope of his being 
alive. Dr. Diesel will be remembered as the inventor 
of the oil engine which bears his name. Born in 
Paris in 1858, of German parentage, his training in- 
cluded courses at the Augsburg technical schools and 
at the Munich Technical College. His first published 
description of the Diesel engine appeared in 1893; 
aided financially by Messrs. Krupp and others, the 
next few years were spent in arduous efforts to realise 
the principle of his engine in a commercially suc- 
cessful machine. The difficulties to be overcome were 
very great. In the earliest attempt, compression of 
the air was effected in the motor cylinder and the 
fuel injected direct. This engine exploded with its 
first charge and nearly killed the inventor. The 
modern Diesel engine compresses the air in the motor 
cylinder to a pressure above 400 lb. per square inch, 
during which process the air becomes hot enough to 
ignite the fuel. At the end of compression, the fuel is 
injected by means of a separate air supply at a pres- 
sure higher than that in the cylinder. Nothing of 
the nature of an explosion occurs in the cylinder; the 
oil burns as it is injected, and, as the piston is moving 
outwards at the same time, the pressure does not 
rise to any extent. The fuel consumption of these 
engines is remarkable, being roughly one-half of any 
other type of oil motor. Engines both of a two- 
stroke cycle and of a four-stroke cycle are now being 
developed by many firms both on the Continent and 
in Britain. In Dr. Diesel’s opinion the two-stroke 
engine would probably be the standard type for marine 
purposes. Marine Diesel engines of very large power 
have not yet been constructed, but many important 
experiments in this direction are being made. Dr. 
Diesel’s loss will be regretted by men of science on 
account of his efforts to interpret practically the Carnot 
ideal cycle, and by engineers on account of the im- 
mense strides which his untiring energy and indomit- 
able pluck have made possible. 
Sir Witiram Curistiz, K.C.B., F.R.S., formerly 
Astronomer-Royal, has been elected Master of the 
Clockmakers’ Company. 
NO. 2293, VOL. 92] 
Tue death is announced, at fifty-four years of age, 
of Dr. W. Carnegie Brown, joint secretary of the 
Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and author 
of papers on malaria and diseases of the tropics. 
Ir is announced in The Athenaeum that in con- 
sequence of the efforts of Dr. C. Holder and others, 
extending over many years, the Legislature of Cali- 
fornia has constituted the island of Santa Catalina a 
fish refuge. In future there will be no netting within 
three miles of the shore of the island. 
THE first ordinary meeting of the Medical Society of 
London for the session 1913-14 will be held on 
Monday next, October 13, when the new president, 
Sir David Ferrier, F.R.S., will deliver his inaugural 
address. The Lettsomian lectures of the society will 
be given on February 2 and 16 and March 2 by Dr. 
F. M. Sandwith, who will treat of the subject of 
dysentery. 
AccorDING to The Electrical Review, a wireless 
receiving installation has been set up in the cathedral 
at Florence by the director of the Florence Observa- 
tory. All the parts of the equipment are within an 
enclosed space, the antennz being within the build- 
ing. Messages have been received from Paris, 
Toulon, and Madrid, the efficiency of the receivers 
being, it is stated, only slightly less than if in the 
open air. 
A PUBLIC meeting in connection with the ninth 
quinquennial festival of the Royal Albert Institution, 
Lancaster, will be held at Lancaster on Tuesday, 
October 21, when the following addresses will be 
given :—‘‘ The Feeble-minded : Historical Retrospect,” 
Sir T. Clifford Allbutt, K.C.B., F.R.S.; ‘‘The Future 
of the Royal Albert Institution,” Sir J. Crichton 
Browne, F.R.S.; ‘‘The After-care of the Feeble- 
minded,” Dr. C. H. Bond. 
Tue fourth exhibition of models, tools, and scientific 
apparatus, organised by the proprietors of The Model 
Engineer, will be held at the Royal Horticultural 
Hall, Westminster, S.W., on October 10-18. Special 
rooms are to be devoted to wireless telegraphy in 
operation, and to aéroplane models of all kinds, while 
a completely equipped workshop will be manned by 
members of the London Society of Model and Experi- 
mental Engineers, who will give demonstrations of 
model-making and workshop operations. 
A CONFERENCE of members of the Museums Associa- 
tion and others interested in similar work is to be 
held at the Warrington Museum on Thursday after- 
noon, October 30, for the purpose of discussing sub- 
jects of common interest to those concerned in the 
work of museums, art galleries, and kindred institu- 
tions. Offers of papers or suggestions of suitable 
subjects for discussion should be sent to Mr. C. 
Madeley, director of the Warrington Municipal 
Museum. 
A DEMONSTRATION of the results of his researches 
into the pathology of rabies will be given on Monday 
next to the Royal Society of Medicine by Dr. Hideyo 
Noguchi, of the Rockefeller Institute. Dr. Noguchi 
proposes to show pure cultures of various pathogenic 
