47° 



NA TURE 



[Sep/, ii, 1884 



appertaining to the other Sections : an application most impor- 

 tant in the progress of the world, and an application not to be 

 lightly regarded, even by the strii ries of pure science, 



for it would be vain to hope that pure science would continue 

 to be pursued if from time to time its discoveries were not 

 brought into practical use. 



Under ordinary circumstances I should have closed my address 

 at this point, but there is a subject which at this, the first meet- 

 ing of Section G after the meeting at Southport, must be touched 

 upon. It is one of so sad a character that I have avoided all 

 allusion to it until this the very last moment, but now I am 

 compelled to grapple with it. 



In the course of this address I have had occasion to mention 

 several names of eminent men, many of them happily still with 

 us, some of them passed away ; but I doubt not you have been 

 struck by the absence of one name, which of all others demands 

 mention when considering physical science, and still more does 

 it come vividly before us when considering the application of 

 science to industrial purposes. I am sure I need not tell you 

 that this name, which I can hardly trust myself to speak, is that 

 of our dear friend William Siemens, whose contributions to 

 science, and whose ability in the application of science, have for 

 years enriched the transactions of this Section, and of Sections 

 A and B, for in him were combined the mechanic, the physicist, 

 and the chemist. 



But a brief year has elapsed since he quitted the Presidential 

 chair of the Association, and, with us at Southport, was 

 taking his accustomed part in the work of this and of 

 other Sections, apparently in good health, and with a rea- 

 sonable prospect of being further useful to science for 

 many valuable years to come. But it was not to be ; he 

 is lost to us, and in losing him we are deprived of a man 

 whose electrical work has been second to none, whose thermic 

 work has been second to none, and whose enlarged views justi- 

 fied him in embarking in scientific speculations of the grandest 

 and most profound character. Whether or not his theory of the 

 conservation of the energy of the sun shall prove to be correct, 

 it cannot be denied that it was a bold and original conception, 

 and one thoroughly well reasoned out from first to last. 



I feel that, were I to attempt anything like the barest sum- 

 mar}- of his discoveries and inventions, I should set myself a 

 task which could not have been fulfilled had I devoted the wh >Ie 

 of the time I had at my command to the purpose. I had indeed 

 thought of making his work the subject of my address, but I felt 

 that his loss was so recent that I could not trust myself to attempt 

 it. There is no need for me to dwell further upon this most 

 painful topic. He was known to you all, he was honoured and 

 loved by you all, and by every member of this Association he 

 had so faithfully served, and over which he had so ably presided ; 

 and he enjoyed the respect and esteem of the best intelligence 

 of. England, the land of his adoption ; of the Continent, his 

 birthplace ; and of Canada, and of the United States, whose 

 populations are always ready to appreciate scientific talent and 

 the resulting industrial progress. It is not too much to say that 

 few more gifted men have ever lived, and that with all his ability 

 and talent he combined a simplicity, a modesty, and an affec- 

 tionate disposition that endeared him to all. 



I am sorry to conclude my address to you in this mournful 

 strain. I have endeavoured to confine my allusions to our dear 

 friend within the narrowest limits, but if I have overstepped 

 these I trust you will forgive me, remembering that "out of the 

 fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh." 



NOTES 



We announce with great regret the death, yesterday, at the 

 age of eighty-three years, of Mr. George Bentham, F.R.S., 

 F. L. S., the eminent botanist. 



The Committee which has been formed for the erection of a 

 statue to the late Jean Baptiste Dumas at his native town, Alais 

 (Gard), is an extensive one. The president is M. Pasteur, and 

 the vice-presidents MM. J. Bertram!, F. de Lesseps, and Cauvet. 

 The membet 3 of the ( lommittee include all the names of scientific 

 note in France. Among the foreign members are well-known 

 men of all nationalities ; the English members being Sir William 

 Thomson, Dr. W. De La Rue, Prof. Williamson, and Dr. 

 Frankland. There is besides a local Committee at Alais. With 

 such powerful and wide support the monument is sure to be 



worthy of Dumas' reputation. Subscriptions should be sent to 

 M. E. Maindrin, Palais de l'lnstitut de France, Paris. 



The National Electrical Conference, convened by the U.S. 

 Congress in connection with the Electrical Exhibition, began its 

 sessions in Philadelphia on Monday. Addresses were made by 

 the President of the Conference, Prof. Rowland of the Johns 

 Hopkins University, Baltimore ; also by Sir William Thomson, 

 the Vice-President. The practical work of the Conference began 

 on Tuesday afternoon with a discussion on the work of the United 

 States Signal Office in relation to electrical observation. The 

 Conference will hereafter discuss the necessity for a national 

 bureau of electrical standards, the adoption of an international 

 system of electrical units, and the theory of dynamo-electric 

 machines. Prof. George Forbes of London delivered a lecture 

 on dynamo-electric machinery on Tuesday evening. 



THE Iron and Steel Institute holds its annual meeting this 

 year at Chester on September 23 and three following days. 

 Among the papers and subjects for discussion are the following : 

 — On the geology of Cheshire, by Mr. Aubrey Strahan, of 

 H.M. Geological Survey, London ; on improvements in the 

 Siemens regenerative gas furnace, by Mr. Frederick Siemens, 

 C.E., London ; on recent improvements in the method of the 

 manufacture of open-hearth steel, by Mr. James Riley, Glasgow, 

 Member of Council ; on a new form of regenerative furnace, by 

 Mr. F. W. Dick, Glasgow ; on the manufacture of crucible 

 steel, by Mr. Henry Seebohm, Sheffield ; on the recovery of 

 by-products from coal, more especially in connection with the 

 coking and iron industries, by Mr. Watson Smith, Owens Col- 

 lege, Manchester ; on the most recent results obtained in Ger- 

 many in utilising the by-products from Otto and other coke 

 ovens, by Dr. C. Otto, Dalhausen ; on the North-Eastern Steel 

 Company's Works at Middlesbrough, and their products, by 

 Mr. Arthur Cooper, Middlesbrough ; on the spectroscopic exa- 

 mination of the vapours evolved on heating iron, &c, at atmo- 

 spheric pressure, by Mr. John Parry, Ebbw Vale. 



The museum recently opened at Newcastle-on-Tyne by the 

 Prince of Wales is a very fine building indeed, and of course is 

 quite unconnected with the public library. The building con- 

 tains the collections of the well-known Natural History Society 

 of Northumberland, r>urham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, and will 

 cost 42,000/. Of this 3S,ooo/. have been raised by public 

 subscription. 



The preliminary programme of the Central Institution for 

 Technical Education has been issued. The object of the Cen- 

 tral Institution, it states, is to give to London a College for 

 the higher technical education, in which advanced instruction 

 shall be provided in those kinds of knowledge which bear upon 

 the different branches of industry, whether manufactures or arts. 

 The Institution is intended to afford practical scientific and 

 artistic instruction which shall qualify persons to become (1) 

 technical teachers ; (2) mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical, 

 and sanitary engineers, architects, builders, and decorative 

 artists ; (3) principals, superintendents, and managers of manu- 

 facturing works. The main purpose of the instruction to 

 be given in this Institution will be to point out the ap- 

 plication of different branches of science to various manu- 

 facturing industries ; and in this respect the teaching will 

 differ from that given in the Universities and in other insti- 

 tutions in which science is taught rather for its own sake 

 than with the view to its industrial application. The courses of 

 instruction will be arranged to suit the requirements of (1) per- 

 sons who are training to become technical teachers ; (2) persons 

 who are preparing to enter some industrial or professional career ; 

 (3) persons who desire to attend special courses, with the view 

 of acquainting themselves with the scientific principles under- 

 lying their work. Students intending to go through the com- 

 plete course of technical instruction with the view of subse- 



