37o 



NA TURE 



[February 15, 1906 



as to shut in the natural shingle banks behind the 

 walls or using- the material from them for their works. 

 The Governmnii might justly be asked to obtain 

 such an alteration in the existing law as would make 

 any removal unlawful unless it could be shown that 

 such removal would not in any way be injurious to 

 adjacent property, and making it the dutv of the 

 coastguards to report where any removal of shingle 

 •or sand is taking place. 



NOTES. 

 The present year will witness the fiftieth anniversary 

 of the foundation of a great branch of chemical industry 

 which, perhaps more than any other discovery in applied 

 chemistry, has reacted upon the science itself to its lasting 

 benefit. Half a century ago the first artificial colouring 

 matter obtained from a coal-tar product was discovered 

 and manufactured by William Henry Perkin under the 

 trade name of " Mauve." The subsequent development of 

 the coal-tar colour industry has been one continuous series 

 of triumphs, and the colossal scale on which organic com- 

 pounds of great complexity are now manufactured, often 

 in a state approaching chemical purity, cannot but strike 

 the future historian of scientific industry as one of the 

 most marvellous achievements of applied organic chemistry 

 ■of the present age. The marvel is enhanced when it is 

 borne in mind that the whole of this industrial develop- 

 ment, which has been made possible by the intervention 

 of pure science at every stage, has taken place during the 

 last half-century. The founder of the industry, Dr. Perkin, 

 is happily still with us in full vigour, and a movement is 

 now being organised to celebrate the jubilee of the dis- 

 covery and to do honour to the discoverer. Preliminary 

 meetings have been held under the auspices of the Chemical 

 Society and a provisional committee formed, which com- 

 mittee has prepared a scheme for submission to a public 

 meetihg for adoption at the Mansion House on February 26 

 at 3 p.m., when the Lord Mayor has consented to take 

 the chair. That the importance of the movement is being 

 appreciated in this country is shown by the fact that, in 

 addition to all the leading chemists and manufacturing 

 chemists, the committee already comprises the names of 

 Lords Halsburv, Rayleigh, Alverstone, and Avebury, the 

 Right Hons. R. B. Haldane, A. J. Balfour, and Joseph 

 Chamberlain, and representatives of the universities, Royal 

 Society, the City companies, &c. The appreciation, more- 

 over, is not limited to Perkin 's own countrymen, and 

 it is known that when the scheme has been formally 

 adopted at the Mansion House meeting on February 26 

 other countries, and especially Germany, the present head- 

 quarters of the industry, will participate in the movement. 

 Those who are interested in the scheme are invited to 

 attend the meeting. The secretary to the committee is 

 Prof. A. G. Green, of Leeds University, from whom par- 

 ticulars can be obtained. 



A rORTR.MT of Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., subscribed for 

 privately, and presented by the subscribers to the Uni- 

 versity of Sheffield, in commemoration of Dr. Sorby's 

 scientific work and labours as one of the founders of the 

 university, was unveiled on Monday, in the presence of 

 a large assembly of leading citizens and other admirers 

 of his devotion to scientific research and to the cause of 

 higher education in Sheffield. Alderman Franklin, as presi- 

 dent of the university council, opened the proceedings, 

 and the portrait was unveiled by the Lady Mayoress. Mr. 

 Simeon Sncll and Prof. W. M. Hicks, F.R.S., who 

 organised the movement for the presentation, in asking 



the University to accept the portrait, referred to Dr. 

 Sorby's long association with Sheffield — he might, in fact, 

 be regarded as the Dalton or the Priestley of Sheffield — 

 and to his sixty years of active work for the advancement 

 ol science and the extension of natural knowledge. The 

 state of Dr. Sorby's bodily health prevented him from 

 being present at the ceremony, but he expressed his appre- 

 ciation of the honour in a letter to Alderman Franklin. 

 The portrait is a replica of one painted by Mrs. M. L. 

 Waller, and now hanging in the rooms of the Sheffield 

 Literary and Philosophical Society. 



Tin. gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society has 

 this year been awarded to Prof. W. W. Campbell, of the 

 I. iik Observatory, for his spectroscopic researches on the 

 motions of stars in the line of sight. The medal was pre- 

 sented at the eighty-sixth anniversary meeting of the 

 society on February a, when the American Ambassador, 

 Mr. Whitelaw Reid, received the medal on behalf of Prof. 

 Campbell, who was unable to be present. Mr. Whitelaw 

 I Reid, in accepting the medal on Prof. Campbell's behalf, 

 said he would certainly value the decoration as highly as 

 a soldier or statesman would value one sent him by a 

 Sovereign. The United States is proud of every advance 

 in art or science made by her sons — prouder of these than 

 of triumphs in trade or in war — and it will be gratified 

 that this high recognition for service to one of the noblest 

 of sciences came from a land to which they are so closely 

 related. It may be remarked that this is the third con- 

 secutive year that this medal has been awarded to an 

 American astronomer. In fact, Mr. Choate, the late 

 American Ambassador, in receiving the medal for Prof. 

 Lewis Boss last year, remarked that it seemed quite one 

 of the annual duties of the Ambassador to proceed to the 

 rooms of the Royal Astronomical Society to receive the 

 gold medal. Out of the list of the last thirteen medallists, 

 no less than seven hail from the United States. 



Active steps are being taken at York to ensure the 

 success of the meeting of the British Association to be 

 held there next August. Last Saturday, at a large and 

 distinguished assembly, over which the Lord Mayor of 

 York presided, the arrangements in connection with the 

 forthcoming visit were advanced a further stage. A re- 

 ception committee representative of the city and county 

 was elected, and it was resolved to raise a fund of not 

 less than 2500/. for the necessary expenses of the meeting. 

 In an appropriate speech, the Lord Mayor moved " That 

 this meeting agrees cordially to welcome the British 

 Association to York this year from August 1-8, and in 

 doing so attaches special interest to the fact that the 

 Association began its existence in York seventy-five years 

 ago." The Dean of York seconded this resolution (which 

 was carried unanimously) ; and in supporting it Dr. 

 Tempest Anderson referred to local connections with the 

 association, the first officials of which included some of the 

 leading members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. 

 The local reception committee appointed on Saturday is an 

 unusually strong one : the president is the Lord Arch- 

 bishop of York ; chairman, the Lord Mayor (Mr. R. H. V. 

 Wragge) ; vice-chairman. Dr. Tempest Anderson; 

 treasurer, Sir J. Sykes Rymer ; and secretaries, Mr. R. 

 Percy Dale and Mr. C. E. Elmhirst. Pro-Chancellor 

 A. G. Lupton (University of Leeds) and Prof. W. M. 

 Hicks (University of Sheffield) both spoke at the meeting, 

 and expressed the desire of their universities to assist in 

 making the forthcoming meeting of the association a 

 sin cess. 



NO. 1894, VOL. 73] 



