610 
yet arrived at the first stage of improvement—the know- 
ledge of their own ignorance.” 
Among the glowing tributes to Gladstone’s memory 
which have been offered since his death, none are more 
significant than the following words from one who is 
singularly well qualified to form an opinion as to the 
value of his educational work. ‘It is twenty years,” 
the writer says, “since I first made his acquaintance as a 
co-worker on my election to the London School Board, 
and the respect which I felt at first for his activity and 
‘devotion in the cause of London education soon ripened 
into a real personal affection and warm admiration for his 
unselfish and kindly nature and for his insight into the 
needs of children intended for industrial life. He was 
almost the first to see that elementary education must be 
widened to include the training of all the faculties if it is 
‘to be effective, and he did more than any to bring this 
knowledge to a practical result. It would be well for the 
‘country if more men existed of the same noble character.” 
He has left many witnesses to his power of influencing 
young scientific workers, to many of whom his memory 
will be very precious, for but few men have been so 
faithful throughout a long life to high ideals, and have at 
the same time so effectively promoted the welfare of 
humanity. W.C. R.A. 
NOTES. 
THE subject of the address of the retiring president (Dr. E. W. 
‘Hobson, F.R.S.) of the London Mathematical Society at the 
annual general meeting on Thursday, November 13, at 5.30, will 
be “‘The Infinite and the Infinitesimal in Mathematical 
Analysis.” There are few people better qualified than Dr. 
Hobson, both on the mathematical and the philosophical side, 
to expound the change:of ,view that has been gradually spread- 
ing over the field of advanced pure mathematical thought during 
the last half-century ; and many persons interested in the sub- 
ject will doubtless take advantage of his explanations who 
would not have time to make headway with the extensive litera- 
‘ture, mainly foreign, to which these modern philosophical de- 
velopments have given rise. At the same meeting, the triennial 
De Morgan medal will be presented to Prof. A: G. Greenhill, 
&.R.S., for his contributions to mathematical analysis and its 
application to mechanical problems. 
WHILE attempting to navigate the air with a new steerable 
‘balloon, M, de Bradsky and his assistant, M. Morin, were 
killed at Stains, near Paris, on October 13. The balloon was 
so constructed that the weight of the gas and all its parts was 
about equal to the weight of air displaced, so that it remained 
at rest until the propelling screw was started. The screw was 
‘driven by a 16 horse-power motor and was behind a steel car, 
seventeen metres long, suspended by steel wires attached to a 
light wooden scaffolding. After the balloon had started, it was 
evident to the spectators that the motor power was insufficient 
to enable it to be steered. When at an altitude of about one 
hundred metres, the car broke away from the balloon and was 
dashed to the ground, causing the death of the two occupants— 
M. de Bradsky and M. Morin. The disaster appears to have 
been caused either by the fracture of the steel wires by which 
the car was suspended from the envelope, or by the whole 
framework slipping away from the balloon. 
On Friday, November 7, Lord Kelvin will reopen the ancient 
Cloth-hall at Newbury, which has been restored as a memorial 
to Queen Victoria and will in future be utilised as a local 
museum and art gallery. 
THE committee of the Huxley Memorial at Ealing has had a 
memorial tablet placed in the Free Library, Walpole Park, and 
it will be unveiled by the Mayor of Ealing, on behalf of the 
3orough Council, on October 23 at 4 p.m. 
NO. 1720, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
[OcroBER 16, 1902 
THE annual ‘‘ Fungus:Foray” of the Essex Field Club will 
be held on Friday and Saturday, October 17 and 18—in the 
country near North Weald and Foot Hill on the Friday, and on 
the Saturday in Epping Forest. Botanists desirous of attending 
should communicate with the hon. secretary, Mr. W. Cole, 
Buckhurst Hill, Essex. 
WE learn from the 77es that an interesting antiquarian dis- 
covery has just been made in the neighbourhood of High 
Wycombe in connection with the construction of the new main 
line of the Great Western and Great Central Railway Com- 
panies. In the course of excavating a hill an ancient flint mine 
has been unearthed, together with an interesting specimen of a 
pick made of the antler of a stag with its points worn smooth. 
Many of the disintegrated blocks bear the marks made by the 
picks used by prehistoric workmen. 
THE council of the Institution of Civil Engineers has, in 
addition to the medals and prizes given for communications dis- 
cussed at the meetings of the Institution in the last session, 
made the following awards in respect of other papers dealt with 
in 1901-1902 :—A Telford gold medal to Mr. J. Macfarlane 
Gray; a George Stephenson gold medal to Mr. R. Price- 
Williams ; a Watt gold medal to Dr. W. Bell Dawson ; Telford 
premiums to Mr. W. R. Cooper, Mr. E. M. De Burgh, Dr. 
George Wilson, Mr. Frank Oswell and Dr. A. W. Brightmore ; a 
Crampton prize to Mr. C. D. H. Braine; the Manby premium 
to Mr. B. W. Ritso. For students’ papers the awards are :— 
A Miller scholarship (tenable for three years) and the James 
Forrest medal to Mr. H. F, Lloyd; Miller prizes to Messrs. 
J. C. Collett, W. H. C. Clay, H. C. M. Austen, A. M. Arter, 
Robert Bruce, L. F. Wells and W. H. McLean. 
Pror. Rosert WALLACE is preparing for publication the 
** Reminiscences ” of the late Miss E. A. Ormerod, to the 
preparation of which she devoted the leisure of her later days. 
The autobiography was not completed, and much additional 
material of an interesting character must be in existence. Prof. 
Wallace would be glad to receive such letters from Miss Ormerod 
as her correspondents may consider of sufficient importance, 
together with any other information which they think will be 
of interest to the general public. His address is the University 
Edinburgh. 
THE remarkable successes achieved by the Marconi system in 
transmitting messages from Cornwall, across the continent, to the 
Carlo Alberto, moored off the coast of Italy, are well known ; 
some further details of the experiments were published in the 
Times of October 14, from the official report upon them. It 
appears from this report that the magnetic detector, recently de- 
scribed by Mr. Marconi before the Royal Society, proved in every 
way superior to the coherer. It was much more accurate in its 
working and required no regulation. Moreover, it was less 
sensitive to atmospheric disturbances, giving fairly clear signals 
under conditions which put the coherer Aors de combat. The 
experience on board the Carlo Alberto also served to confirm 
the observation that signalling was more difficult during the day 
than the night, but this only necessitates increasing the power 
at the transmitting station in order to carry on long-distance 
work continuously ; there seems to be a practical limit to the 
sensitiveness of the receiver in that it must not be made too 
easily affected by atmospheric influences. 
THE subject of this year's essay competition for the prizes 0x 
to/, and 5/. annually offered by the Society for the Protection 
of Birds (3 Hanover Square, W.) is ‘* Birds in the Field and 
Garden ; their Economic Value to Man.” The Society’s object 
is to collect facts and opinions respecting the utility of birds as 
insect and weed destroyers, a matter which has in recent years 
compelled attention in various parts of the world, but is still 
ee ee eee 
