132 



NA TURE 



[December 7, 1905 



His work on electric radiation has been collected in a 

 book, " L'Ottica delle oscillazioni elettriche," Bologna, 

 1897. He rendered fundamental service to exact experiment 

 on this subject by simplifying the practical conditions of 

 the problem ; and he applied his improved apparatus to 

 numerous investigations on the behaviour of electro- 

 magnetic waves, of short and therefore manageable wave- 

 length, under very varied conditions, on their absorption, 

 polarisation, reflection and refraction, and on the behaviour 

 of dielectrics in the field of radiation. This work entitles 

 him to a high place among those who developed the lines 

 of experimental investigation opened up by the great dis- 

 coveries of Hertz. 



More recently he has contributed substantially to the 

 study of the phenomena of radio-activity and the related 

 ionisations. 



THE DEATH-KNELL OF THE ATOM. 1 

 Old Time is a-fiying; the atoms are dying; 



Come, list to their parting oration : — 

 " We'll soon disappear to a heavenly sphere 



On account of our disintegration. 



'* Our action's spontaneous in atoms uranious 



Or radious, actinious or thorious : 

 But for others, the gleam of a heaven-sent beam 



Must encourage their efforts laborious. 



" For many a day we've been slipping away 

 While the >avaiiN still dozed in their slumbers; 



Till at last came a man with gold-leaf and tin can 

 And detected our infinite numbers." 



Thus the atoms in turn, we new clearly discern, 



Fly to bits with the utmost facility; 

 Thev wend on their way, and in splitting, display 



An absolute lack of stability. 



'Tis clear thev should halt on the grave of old Dalton 



On their path to celestial spheres ; 

 And a few thousand million — let's say a quadrillion — 



Should bedew it with reverent tears. 



There's nothing facetious in the way that Lucretius 



Imagined the Chaos to quiver; 

 And electrons to blunder, together, asunder, 



In building; up atoms for ever ! 



W. R. 



NOTES. 

 The Havden memorial gold medal has been awarded by 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia to Mr. 

 C. D. Walcott, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, in 

 recognition of the value of his individual contributions to 

 geological science. 



The University of Basle, to which the late Prof. Dr. 

 Georg W. A. Kahlbaum was attached for nearly twenty 

 years, has received the sum of 100,000 francs from the 

 mother of the deceased professor. Further, Prof. Kahl- 

 baum's scientific library and physical instruments are also 

 to be handed to the university. 



From Berlin we learn, according to the Chemiker- 

 Zeitung, that the German State grant for the support of 

 scientific, technical, and similar undertakings is to be 

 increased by 115,000 marks. The sum of 179,500 marks 

 is to be spent upon increasing the accommodation for the 

 permanent exhibition devoted to the interests of the work- 

 ing classes; 120,000 marks to be a first instalment for an 



1 Sung at the Chemical Laboratory dinner at University College, 

 November 17. 



NO. 1884, VOL. J$] 



investigation of sleeping sickness ; 30,000 marks to be 

 devoted to the development of the Starfesirotn-laboratory 

 of the Reichsanstalt ; 43,850 marks to be contributed to 

 the kite station on Lake Constance for experimental in- 

 vestigations of the higher air strata. 



Tin; annual conference of the Pharmaceutical Society 

 will be held in Birmingham in the week beginning July 23, 

 1906. 



For the erection of a monument to Franz Reuleaux in 

 the Charlottenburg Technical School, an appeal for sub- 

 scriptions has been issued by the engineering department 

 of the school. 



Mr. F. W. Dvson, F.R.S., chief assistant, Royal Observ- 

 atory, Greenwich, has been appointed Astronomer Royal 

 for Scotland, and also professor of practical astronomy, 

 Edinburgh University, in succession to the late Dr. Cope- 

 land. 



An exhibition of electrical, optical, and other physical 

 apparatus has been arranged by the Physical Society, and 

 will be held on Friday evening, December 15, at the Royal 

 College oi Science, South Kensington. Admission will be 

 by ticket only. 



It is reported, Science says, that the Mexican Astro- 

 nomical Society has awarded the prize offered by the Bishop 

 of Leon for some notable astronomical discovery to Prof. 

 W. 11. Pickering, of Harvard College Observatory, for the 

 discovery of the truth satellite of Saturn. 



An archaeological museum, which will devote special 

 attention to Indo-Chinese matters, has been established by 

 the French Government at Pnompenh. The museum will 

 be under the scientific control of the F.cole franchise 

 d'F.xtreme-Orient, the chief of the archaeological department 

 of which school will act as director of the new museum. 



A description is given in the Engineer of December 1 



1 I s interesting machine-tools, formerly the property of 



James Nasmyth, lately placed on view in the southern 

 galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Although 

 assi 1 iated primarily with the invention of the steam- 

 hammer, James Nasmyth did valuable work in the improve- 

 ment of machine-tools. 



An extensive landslip has occurred in the Danish island 



Mben, destroying part of the beautiful scenery along 



I. ill.' Klint. From the beach, steep slopes of Boulder-clay, 



thickly wooded, rise about 250 feet. The right bank of 



the valley from Liselund Chateau, and the coast-cliff for 



some 400 yards to the south of it, in all some III n 1 r 



twenty acres of woodland, are described as having sunk 

 bodily. The sea had been encroaching, but underground 

 water is regarded as the cause. 



A Times correspondent reports that a local Greek news- 

 paper publishes details of the earthquake of November 8, 

 which caused great damage to the various monasteries 1 n 

 Mount Athos. The shocks, which were extremely violent, 

 occurred in the night. None of the monasteries escaped 

 without serious injury. The shocks were not confined to 

 the colony of monks. At Carves the post-office, the police 

 station, and other public buildings have been ruined, and 

 at Cassandra, Jerissos, Gomate, and other villages within 

 the districts affected the churches and many houses have 

 been destroyed. 



In the course of a lecture delivered at the Armstrong 

 College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, on December 2, the Hon. 

 C. A. Parsons, F.R.S., dealt with the application of 

 turbines to Atlantic passenger steamers, and described the 



