444 



NA TURE 



[March 8, 1906 



considerable attention, and did much to popularise the 

 science in America. It is needless to say that he was 

 a member of many learned societies, American and 

 European ; it will be sufficient to refer here to the 

 fact that he was elected a foreign member of the 

 Royal Society in 1895. At the age of seventy-two he 

 is removed from that position he was so well fitted to 

 adorn, and the respectful sympathy of the men of 

 science of all nations will be offered to those who 

 suffer by his loss. W. E. P. 



NOTES. 

 One good purpose served by the movement referred to 

 last week (p. 419) to commemorate the jubilee of the dis- 

 covery of the first artificial coal-tar colour by Dr. Perkin is 

 that public attention has been directed to the relations 

 between scientific research and industrial progress. The 

 complete lack of sympathy between the capitalist in this 

 country and the scientific worker, largely due to the in- 

 difference shown by statesmen to scientific studies, has 

 been persistently deplored in these columns for many years ; 

 and we are glad that the general public is now being 

 enlightened as to the results of neglect of scientific 

 research. The coal-tar industries, founded upon an 

 essentially British discovery, have been lost to us, and are 

 now represented in Germany by two industrial groups 

 which, with a capital of 50,000,000!., can pay dividends 

 of from 20 per cent, to 30 per cent, per annum. Prof. 

 S. P. Thompson, in a letter to Saturday's Times, refers 

 to this lost industry, and shows that the electrical industry 

 and the manufacture of steel must pass to other countries 

 unless our manufacturers realise the industrial value of 

 higher technical education and scientific research. 

 " Pioneering," he remarks, "as it is understood in an 

 electrical factory in the United States or in Germany, is 

 now almost non-existent in England ; and the result on the 

 electrical industry in the next ten years must be simply 

 disastrous. Where are the newer kinds of electric lamps 

 being developed? The Nernst lamp, the flame lamp, the 

 vapour lamp, the oxide lamp, the osmium lamp, the tan- 

 talum lamp, all rich in future possibilities, where are they 

 being perfected? Not in England. I doubt if there is a 

 single British firm that is spending on such development 

 a tenth part of the sum that one single American firm 

 is spending on this one thing alone. If we cease to 

 pioneer we become mere followers at a distance of those 

 who are going forward — ourselves cease to lead in the 

 development of the industry." To save our country from 

 future disaster, our commercial and educational leaders, 

 and our statesmen, must realise the vital nature of scientific 

 research to national prosperity, and act upon this convic- 

 tion by making adequate provision for it. 



The town council of Hamburg has voted the sum of 

 586,000 marks (29,300!.) for the construction of a new 

 observatory at Bergedorf, about ten miles from Hamburg, 

 and 309,000 marks (15,450/.) for the instrumental and 

 electrical equipment of the observatory. 



Prof. W. Osler, F.R.S., has been elected a member 

 of the Athena?um Club under the provisions of the rule 

 which empowers the annual election by the committee of 

 nine persons " of distinguished eminence in science, litera- 

 ture, the arts, or for public services." 



The American Geographical Society has awarded Captain 

 R. F. Scott its gold medal in recognition of his services 

 as commander of the British Antarctic Expedition. The 

 Paris Geographical Society has awarded one of its gold 



NO. 1897, VOL - 73] 



medals to Major C. H. D. Ryder in recognition of his 

 work as surveyor and explorer in connection with the recent 

 Tibet mission, and his expedition to the sources of the 

 Brahmaputra. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Times states that on 

 Monday the German Emperor formally opened the new 

 Museum for Marine Science, Berlin University. Among 

 those present at the opening ceremony were the Prince of 

 Monaco, the Rector of the University, Geheimrath Diel, 

 and many distinguished representatives of natural science. 

 The institute, which owes its existence to the direct 

 initiative of the German Emperor, is intended to promote 

 and encourage the interest of the German people in marine 

 matters, and to place the subject upon a scientific basis. 



The Empress Trederick Institute for the higher scientific 

 and practical education of medical men, which owes its 

 inception to a project initiated by the late Empress 

 Frederick, was opened in Berlin on March 1. The German 

 Emperor and Empress, accompanied by many members of 

 the Prussian Royal Family, were present. Sir Felix Semon 

 attended the ceremony in accordance with the commands of 

 King Edward, and in the course of a short address referred 

 to the King's personal interest in the new institution. 



A Royal Commission has been appointed to inquire into 

 the canals and inland navigations of the United Kingdom, 

 and to report on their present condition, financial position, 

 the facilities, improvements, and extensions required to 

 complete a system of through communication by water, 

 the expediency of canals being made or acquired by public 

 bodies, and other matters related to these subjects. 



Sir Edward Fry will preside at the twenty-third annual 

 congress of the Royal Sanitary Institute, which will be 

 held at Bristol from July 9 to 14. The presidents of the 

 various sections will be : — Section i., sanitary science and 

 preventive medicine, Sir William J. Collins, M.P. ; 

 section ii., engineering and architecture, Mr. Edwin T. 

 Hall ; section Hi., physics, chemistry, and biology, Dr. 

 W. N. Shaw, F.R.S. 



At the third International Seismological Conference, held 

 at Berlin on August 15, 1905, Signor Luigi Palazzo was 

 elei ted vice-president of the permanent board of the Inter- 

 national Seismological Association. As Prof. A. Schuster 

 was unable to accept the presidency offered him, the 

 assembly deputed Signor Palazzo to act as president until 

 the new elections take place next summer. Signor Palazzo 

 desires it to be known that the Italian Government has 

 consented to his acceptance of the office and responsibility, 

 and he asks for the support of all who take an interest 

 in the progress of seismology. 



Dr. C. W. Andrews, of the British Museum, left 

 England last week to resume the quest for the remains of 

 extinct vertebrates from the Tertiary deposits of the FayUm 

 and other parts of Egypt. Recent discoveries in Egypt have 

 demonstrated the descent of the Eocene zeuglodonts irom 

 creodont Carnivora, and it is one of the objects of the 

 present expedition to endeavour to discover, in higher beds, 

 the missing links "between zeuglodonts and true cetaceans. 

 It may be added that the present expedition (like the 

 earlier ones) of Dr. Andrews has been rendered practicable 

 by the generosity of Mr. W. E. de Winton. 



Scii nee reports that, according to a despatch to the daily 

 papers from Washington, the Carnegie Institution has pur- 

 chased a tract of six acres in the north-west section of 

 Washington, near Rock Creek Park, where it will erect 

 a permanent home. The site is near the building of the 



