NA TURE 



[January 26, 1899 



Siience announces the death, at Philadelphia, of Dr. E. Otis 

 Kendall in his eighty-first year. Dr. Kendall was for more 

 than fifty years professor of mathematics in the University of 

 Pennsylvania, though recently he had relinquished active duties. 

 He had also held the chair of Astronomy in the University, and 

 was for a long time dean of the scientific department, and was in 

 1883 elected viceprovost, being honorary vice-provost at the lime 

 of his death. Dr. Kendall was for twenty-eight years one of the 

 secretaries of the American Philosophical .Society, and for the 

 following twenty-one years one of its vice-presidents. He was 

 the author of a text-book of astronomy and of various contribu- 

 tions to mathematics, as well as of computations for the U.S. 

 Nautical Almanac and the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



The death is announced of Dr. Joseph Coats, professor of 

 pathology in the University of Glasgow. Dr. Coats was born 

 in 1846, and he received his preliminary education at Paisley 

 and his medical education at the Universities of Glasgow, 

 Leipzig, and Wiirzburg. He was appointed editor of the 

 Glasgow Medical Journal m 1878, and was degree examiner in 

 pathology 1879-82, lecturer on pathology 1890-94, and pro- 

 fessor of pathology since 1894 at the University of Glasgow. 

 He was president of the Pathological Society in 1876, and 

 president of the Medico-Chirurgical Society in 1891. He was 

 the author of several medical works, and he also contributed 

 numerous papers to the various learned societies and medical 

 journals. 



The Paris correspondent of the Lancet reports that Dr. 

 Dumontpallier has died at the age of seventy-four years. He 

 was a member of the Academy of Medicine, president of the 

 Society of Biology, an Officer of the Legion of Honour, and 

 was for many years physician to the Hotel Dieu. Of recent 

 years he has been best known by his researches into hypnotism 

 and hypno-therapeulics, in which he had a great belief. — The 

 death is also announced of Dr. Camille Dareste, professor at 

 the Paris School of Anthropology. He was best known for his 

 researches in embryology, and was practically the founder of 

 the science of experimental teratology, while his researches on 

 the artificial production of monsters created very widespread 

 interest. He was formerly the professor of medicine at Lille, 

 and some fifteen years ago went to Paris as director of the 

 school for higher education. 



A SERIES of severe earthquake shocks occurred in some parts 

 of Greece on Sunday morning. The Times correspondent at 

 Athens reports that nearly the whole Peloponnese was visited 

 by the disturbance. Severe .shocks were felt at Corinth, 

 Megara, Tripolis, Sparta, Gythium, Patras, and 1'yrRo.s, but 

 Utile damage was done at these places. Messenia, however, 

 e.xperienced the full force of the earthquake, and, besides con- 

 siderable destruction of property in the towns of Philiatra and 

 Kyparissia, two or three neighbouring villages are reported to be 

 in ruins or uninhabitable. Prof. Milne states that the earthquake 

 reached the Isle of Wight at 8h. 24m. 5Ss. on Sunday 

 morning. There were preliminary tremors for three minutes, 

 and then three shocks, followed by the usual echoes or rever- 

 berations, three in number. 



The Swiney Prize for the present year has been awarded to 

 Dr. J. Dixon Mann, Professor of Forensic Medicine and 

 Toxicology at Owens College, Manchester, for his book on 

 " Forensic Medicine and Toxicology." The priie, in accordance 

 with the will of the testator, is awarded on every fifth anniversary 

 of his death to the author of the best published work on juris- 

 prudence. It consists of a silver goblet of the value of 100/., 

 with money to the same amount. Dr. Swiney died fifty-five 

 years ago, and the award has been regularly made every fifth 

 year to the present time. The Society of -Arts arc the trustees 

 NO. 1526, VOL. 59] 



of the fund, and the award is made by that Society and the 

 Royal College of Physicians. Having regard to this fact, the 

 prize has up to the present date been given alternately for works 

 on general jurisprudence and on medical jurisprudence. 



A MEEi'ixc. of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers will be 

 held on Thursday and Friday, February 9 and 10, at the new- 

 house of the Institution, Storey's Gate, St. James' Park. The 

 chair will be taken by the president at half- past seven p.m. on 

 each evening. The annual report of the council will be pre- 

 sented to the meeting on Thursday, and the annual election o' 

 the president, vice-presidents, and members of council will lake 

 place on the same day. The retiring president, Mr. Samuel W. 

 Johnson, will induct into the chair the president-elect. Sir 

 William H. W'hite, K.C.B., F.R.S. The following papers will 

 be read and discussed, as far as time permits : — Fifth Report to 

 the Alloys Research Committee : Steel, by Prof. Roberts- 

 Austen, K.C.B., F.R.S. ; Machinery for book and general 

 printing, by Mr. William Powrie ; Evaporative Condensers, by 

 Mr. Harry G. \". Oldham. 



The following particulars, referring to the experiments made 

 by the Wireless Telegraph Company between the South Fore- 

 land lighthouse and the East Goodwin lightship, are given in the 

 Electrician: — Permission was granted by the Trinity House 

 authorities for the Company to make use of either the East- 

 Goodwin, the Gull-stream, or the South Sand-Head light- 

 vessel — the land station to be at the South Foreland light- 

 house — and they chose the furthest off of these light-vessels, 

 namely, the East Goodwin lightship, which is twelve miles 

 distant from the South Foreland lighthouse. All the apparatus 

 was brought on the lightship in an open boat and rigged up in 

 the course of an afternoon, and on Christmas Eve the lightship 

 and lighthouse were placed in perfect telegraphic communi- 

 cation. Many messages passed on that d.iy, and there has not 

 been the slightest hitch from the starting of the installation to 

 now, every message sent from either shore or ship being 

 perfectly received at the corresponding station. Although the 

 weather has been most tempestuous since the instruments were 

 installed, they have not been in the slightest degree affected. 



Two papers upon the subject of steel rails were read at the 

 meetingof the Institution of Civil Engineers on January 17. Mr. 

 W. G. Kirkaldy recounted how experiments he had carried out 

 on two steel rails, which had broken under traffic, had led to his 

 devoting special attention to the subject and to a wider 

 investigation. It was found that the breakage of rails resulted 

 from failure commencing at the top surface, and not from the 

 bottom, as appeared to be the usual belief, and that the 

 deterioration was confined entirely to the top or running he.-id. 

 The deterioration was of the nature of a mechanical hardening 

 of the surface under the action of the rolling load. In some 

 cases this hardening further developed into a species of disinte- 

 gration by the formation of minute transverse cracks, which, by 

 gradual deepening, ultimately resulted in failure, unless the r.iil 

 was removed in lime. 



Prof. W. C. RonERTS-AusxEX, K.C. B., F.R.S., at the 

 meeting referred to above, gave a stalemenl of the principles 

 which guide micropholography of steel rails. The most gener- 

 ally useful information as to ihe structure of a steel rail is 

 obtained by treating a highly polished surface of the section 

 with an effusion of liquorice in water, which stains the pearlite 

 a dark lint, and leaves the ferrite unacted upon. The most 

 convenient magnification is l)etHeen too and 150 diameters. 

 Normal rails have thus been shown to consist of patches of 

 pearlite set in ferrite ; and although the structure is common to 

 all rails, the ratios of the areas differ widely, the amount of 

 carbon increasing w ilh the area of ihe pearlite. If the ferrite is 



