132 
NATURE 
have had considerable attraction for Duhem. 
On the origins of statics he published two 
volumes, but the crowning work of Duhem’s 
later years would appear to be a work of ten 
volumes on the history of astronomy up to 
Copernicus, of which so far only four have 
appeared. 
The writer of this notice visited Duhem at 
Bordeaux in 1901. He was a shortish man with 
a very pleasing manner, in which could be 
observed that element of preciseness which 
characterises his writings. It will readily be 
understood that a vast laboratory fitted with 
costly and complicated apparatus was _ not 
needed by a mathematical physicist like Duhem, 
and it was interesting to compare the simple 
equipments at Bordeaux with the rather less 
simple, but more dusty, pieces of apparatus used 
by another mathematical physicist, Ludwig 
‘Boltzmann, at the dingy buildings in the Tiirken- 
strasse at Vienna. But if Duhem did not indulge 
in superfluous .luxuries, he made the best use 
possible of all the essential apparatus, and on 
the occasion of the visit he demonstrated the 
then newly discovered properties of radio-active 
substances with the same care and attention to 
detail that are so noticeable in his theories. 
If Duhem did not concentrate his main efforts 
on the discovery of new phenomena or the 
measurement and re-measurement of physical 
constants, he has at least played an equally 
important part in the advancement of our know- 
ledge by evolving order out of chaos, and uniting 
isolated portions of mathematical physics in the 
form of a connected and logical theory. 
G. H. Bryan. 
NOTES. 
A MEETING to consider the steps to be taken to raise 
a memorial to the late Sir William Ramsay will be 
held at University College, London, on Tuesday, Octo- 
ber 31, at 4.30 p.m. Invitations will be sent out on or 
about October 20. It will, however, greatly help in 
making the arrangements if all persons wishing to be 
present, including in particular scientific friends and 
former students of Sir William Ramsay, will send a 
postcard to the secretary, University College, London, 
intimating their desire. Those who thus apply will 
not be asked to reply to the invitation when issued. 
Further particulars of the arrangements for the meet- 
ing will be issued in a few days. After the meeting 
the director of the University College Chemical 
Laboratories, Prof. J. Norman Collie, will deliver a 
memorial lecture on ‘The Scientific Worl: of Sir 
William Ramsay,” at 5.30 p.m. 
Tue annual Huxley Memorial Lecture of the Royal 
Anthropological Institute will be delivered on Tuesday, 
November 14, by Sir J. G. Frazer; the title of the 
lecture is ‘“‘ Ancient Stories of a Great Flood.” 
Mr. H. G. Nacer and Mr. A. D. Hall have been 
appointed members of the Government committee 
which is considering the question of the teaching of 
science. 
WE learn through the Electrical Review that it has 
been decided, owing to the war, not to hold the Hobart 
meeting ~of the Australasian Association for the Ad- 
NO. 2451, VOL. 98] 
vancement of Science, 
[OcToBER 19, 1916 
which had been arranged for 
January, 1917. p-" 
Tue meetings of the London Mathematical Society 
will be held during the session 1916-17 in the rooms 
of the Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, _ 
W. They will not always be the second Thursday 
of each month, as hitherto, but on dates and day 
announced by the council in the list just issued. ; 
Tue twenty-fourth ‘‘ James Forrest’ lecture of the 
Institution of Civil Engineers will be delivered on 
Tuesday, October 24, at 5.30 p.m., by Sir John Purser 
Griffith. The subject will be ‘‘The Development of 
Appliances for Handling Raw Materials and Mer- 
chandise at Ports and other Large Centres of Traffic.’ 
Tue death is recorded in the Revue Scientifique of 
Dr. Valentin J. J. Magnan, a leading French authority 
on mental disorders. Dr. Magnan was elected a mem- 
ber of the Paris Académie de Médecine in 1893, and 
became president in 1915. He was the author of 
‘**Lecons cliniques sur les Maladies mentales,” 
Tue death is announced in action on September 28 
of Capt. E. J. Smith, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. 
Before joining the forces, at the outbreak of war, he 
was senior science master at Sexey’s School, Black- 
ford, Cheddar. While in Gallipoli he was shot 
through the shoulder when in command of the snipers 
of his battalion. Later he commanded the Brigade 
Bombing School at Suvla Bay. 
Tue Hippurite from the chalk near Faversham, 
noticed in our last issue, has now been placed, with 
some other illustrative specimens, on exhibition in the 
Gallery of Fossil Reptiles at the Natural History 
Museum, since the galleries containing fossil inverte- 
brates are closed to the public. 
Reports from the Swedish expedition to Spits- 
bergen, noticed in Narure for July 27 (p. 448), show 
that valuable work has been done, especially in the 
detailed mapping of the district. Besides conducting 
the investigations previously mentioned, the expedition 
has made several excavations in the old moraines on 
the shore, resulting in the discovery of deep-seated 
ice, many thousands of years old. How thick a cover- 
ing of rock such fossil ice can support is a question 
worth solving. At any rate, deep borings have proved 
that it does not continue under the floor of the harbour. 
A Norwegian expedition to Spitsbergen, which has 
been investigating the Svalbard Company’s coalfield, 
reports that it is of colossal size, containing, accord- 
ing to calculation, as many as 880 million tons. Nor- 
way’s yearly consumption of coal is 2:8 million tons. 
REPLYING, in the House of Commons, to a question 
by Mr. Ashley, M.P., on October 12, Mr. McKinnon ~ 
Wood said :—* The direct savings resulting from clos- 
ing the national museums and picture galleries to the 
public are estimated at approximately 50,o00l. per 
annum, in addition to which a large economy results 
from freeing staffs, and in several cases accommoda- 
tion, for purposes of immediate national importance at 
the present time.’’ The sum named is that which was 
put forward by the Government when the proposal 
was first mooted, and, relatively small though it be, — 
it is satisfactory to learn that this regrettable step 
has actually resulted in such direct addition to the 
National Exchequer. It must not, however, be. for- 
gotten that the museums in question had already for- 
gone their purchase grants and had in other directions 
greatly reduced their expenditure, while continuing to 
perform, as exemplified in our last issue, important 
national services. It would be interesting to compare 
the actual expenditure on museum work at the present 
