March i, 1906] 



NA TURE 



419 



remarked that this rate refers to the large motion 

 on the Milne seismographs, not to the felt shock, 

 the discussion of which is deferred to the larger 

 memoir promised. 



Among miscellaneous effects of the earthquake it 

 is mentioned that in some cases the flow of springs 

 was more or less completely checked, while others 

 increased or broke out in new places. In Sind and 

 Burma the shock was not felt, but affected the bubbles 

 of level tubes during survey operations, the move- 

 ment in the former district indicating- a surface tilt of 

 about 30 seconds of arc above and below the hori- 

 zontal, in a north-east-south-west direction. 



HENRY JAMES CHANEY. 



ON February 13 Henry James Chancy, who for 

 more than forty years was an authority on our 

 standards of weight and measure, ended his lengthy 

 official career at Hampstead after a painful illness of 

 some months' duration. 



He was born at Windsor in March, 1S42, was 

 educated privately, and entered the Civil Service at 

 an early age. In i860 he was appointed to the 

 Exchequer, the department in which at that time the 

 statutory powers with respect to weights and 

 measures were vested. Here he had the good fortune 

 to come into contact with Airy and Miller, who had 

 just completed their researches, undertaken at the 

 instance of the Government, in connection with the 

 restoration of the Imperial standards. Profiting by 

 their advice and encouragement, he devoted himself 

 with much zeal to the technical duties which were 

 imposed upon his department by the Sale of Gas Act, 

 1839. Under the direction of H. W. Chisholm, the 

 Warden of the Standards, he took an important part 

 in perfecting the official apparatus for verifying gas- 

 measuring instruments. He acted as secretary to 

 the Standards Commission, 1867-71, and had much 

 to do with the preparation of the voluminous appen- 

 dices to its reports. 



On the abolition of the separate office of Warden 

 of the Standards in 1878, Mr. Chaney was placed in 

 charge of the Standards Department of the Board of 

 Trade. As superintendent of weights and measures 

 he was responsible for the model regulations with 

 respect to weights and measures on which the local 

 regulations throughout the country have been based. 

 He was for many years the representative of the 

 United Kingdom on the Comite International des 

 Poids et Mesures, and took an active share in its 

 proceedings. When the metric system of weights 

 and measures was made permissive in this country in 

 1897, Mr. Chaney compiled the new tables of metric 

 equivalents which were legalised the following year 

 by Order in Council. 



Mr. Chaney's scientific writings are for the most 

 part to be found in the periodical publications of the 

 Standards Department, and include, inter alia, 

 " Report on the Standards of Measurement for Gas," 

 " Verification of Standards for the Governments of 

 India and Russia " (1877), " Screw Gauges " (1881-3), 

 " Densities and Expansions " (1883), " Expansion of 

 Palladium," " Re-comparison of the Imperial and 

 Metric Units" (1883), "Verification of the New 

 Parliamentary Standards of Length and Weight " 

 (1881-3). His " Re-determination of the Mass of a 

 Cubic Inch of Distilled Water " (Phil. Trans., 1892), 

 which was intended to serve as a basis for calculating 

 the relation between measures of capacity and volume, 

 gave for the cubic contents of the gallon the value 

 2 77-463 cubic inches, a much better approximation 

 than the value 277.274 cubic inches, due to Kater, 

 NO. 1896, VOL. J2~\ 



which was accepted up to that date. The researches 

 which have since been undertaken at the Bureau 

 International des Poids et Mesures, and are still in 

 progress, have yielded a provisional result for the 

 mass of a cubic decimetre of distilled water at its 

 maximum density which leads to. the value 277420 

 cubic inches for the cubic contents of the gallon. 

 This does not differ much from Chaney's result, and 

 is to be considered as the l"--t determination up to 

 date. 



His well known work " Our Weights and 

 Measures," which appeared in 1897, contains a mass 

 of metrological information not readilv accessible else- 

 where. One of his latest contributions to science was 

 the article " Weights and Measures " in the supple- 

 ment to the ninth edition of the " Encyclopedia 

 Britannica." His last official publication was a re- 

 port on the " Construction and Verification of a New- 

 Copy of the Imperial Standard Yard " (1905). 



His great experience in precise measurement caused 

 him to be regarded as a valuable cooperator, and his 

 advice was frequently sought by official committees. 

 The Imperial Service Order was conferred upon him 

 in 1902, and the services rendered by him in connec- 

 tion with the restoration of the Russian standards of 

 weight and measure were recognised by the present 

 Tsar as well as by his grandfather, Alexander II. 



Mr. Chaney's name has long been familiar in 

 metrological circles, and his death has removed 

 another link with the past. The memory of his kindly 

 disposition and ready assistance will be treasured by 

 all those who were in any way associated with 

 him. 



NOTES. 



We are informed that the council of the Roval Society 

 has selected the following candidates for election as fellows 

 of the society : — Dr. C. W. Andrews, Mr. G. T. Beilby, 

 Mr. F. F. Blackman, Prof. T. J. I'Anson Bromwich, Mr. 

 P. H. Cowell, Mr. W. Heape, Mr. J. H. Jeans, Dr. 

 C. H. Lees, Captain H. G. Lyons, R.E., Prof A. B. 

 Macallum, Mr. J. E. Marsh, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, 

 Mr. J. Swinburne, Prof. H. A. Wilson, Prof. A. E. 

 Wright. 



A meeting was held at the Mansion House on Monday, 

 the Lord Mayor presiding, to consider what steps should 

 be taken to commemorate the discovery by Dr. W. H. 

 Perkin fifty years ago of the first artificial colouring matter 

 obtained from a coal-tar product, and to celebrate the 

 great development of the coal-tar colour industry thus 

 started. A note describing the origin and nature of the 

 movement appeared in these columns on February 15 

 (p. 370). The proceedings at Monday's meeting were 

 opened by Lord Halsbury, who moved : — " That, in view 

 of this being the fiftieth year of the foundation of the coal- 

 tar colour industry, it is desirable that steps should be 

 taken to memorialise the event and to do honour to Dr. 

 W. H. Perkin, the founder." Sir William Bousfield 

 seconded the motion, which was supported by the Master 

 of the Leathersellers' Company and Prof. H. E. Arm- 

 strong, and unanimously carried. Lord Rayleigh moved : — ■ 

 " That an appeal be made in this country and abroad for 

 subscriptions for the purpose of carrying out the follow- 

 ing objects : — (1) The presentation to Dr. Perkin for his 

 lifetime of an oil portrait of himself, executed by an 

 eminent artist, the portrait to become the property of the 

 nation at his death. (2) The execution of a marble bust 

 of Dr. Perkin to be placed in the rooms of the Chemical 



