August 17, 1882] 



NA TURE 



565 



and people observe and study more abroad than at home. The 

 time has passed when antiquities should be regarded as trophies 

 of war. It is no longer necessary for instruction to hoard up 

 valuable specimens of foreign antiquities in European museums. 

 So long as science has access to the materials of knowledge, that 

 is all that it is necessary to bring away j and national museums, 

 with the limited space at their disposal, should more and more 

 become devoted to local collections. Besides which, it should be 

 remembered that the atmosphere of Egypt preserves antiquities 

 in a way that no other climate can do ; and when this fact here- 

 after becomes fully impressed upon the public mind, the time 

 may come when subscriptions will be raised to take back obelisks 

 and put them up again in their proper places ; at any rate we 

 have enough of them weathering and withering in smoke and 

 damp. They are quite out of place in European towns, and seem 

 to hold up a finger of caution to us to proceed no further in that 

 direction. But the opportunity for exploration shuuld not be 

 lost. The French savants did their work thoroughly during their 

 military operations in that country, and it would be shameful if, 

 with the knowledge now at our disposal, the British expedition 

 did not achieve more for the promotion of science than was 

 effected by Napoleon half a century ago. 



Carlsbad, August 3 A. Pitt-Rivers 



Francis Maitland Balfour 



The memoir of Prof. Francis M. Balfour, published in 

 NATURE, vol. xxvi. p. 313, appears to have been founded, as 

 far as his life at Harrow is concerned, on incomplete informa- 

 tion ; and I therefore ask your permission to supplement it with 

 my own remini-cences. 



He entered Harrow School in January, 1S65, and when he 

 had leached the upper part of the fifth form in 1S67, I was 

 appointed to give insti uction in natural science. Although this 

 subject was not tauylit in any of the forms which Balfour passed 

 through, he soon afterwards eagerly availed himself of the 

 opportunity offered of taking lessons in practical work in biology. 

 This continued without intermission until he left the school for 

 Cambridge more than three years afterwards. He was always 

 ready to spend as many hours as I could give him for work with 

 the microscope and in making dissections. With Dr. Rolleston's 

 " Forms of Animal Life" as guide, he dissected nearly all the 

 typical examples described in that book. In the same way he 

 gained a knowledge of o-teology, using a small collection of 

 skeletons which received, for his special benefit, the important 

 additions of a complete crocodile, and an armadillo, several 

 incomplete skeletons of ornithorhynchus, and echidna. No part 

 of comparative anatomy was neglected, but of such an extensive 

 subjec', much of his knowledge was necessarily derived from 

 books only, but it was sound, being based on Huxley, MUUer, 

 Kblliker, and the like. He had the opportunity also oi learning 

 elementary botany. 



All this work was carried on under conditions with which 

 only a boy of his energy and indomitable perseverance could 

 have coped. At first he had some difficulty in acquiring skill in 

 the purely mechanical details of dissection, but he determined to 

 overcome this difficulty, and he succeeded. The time at his 

 disposal for biology was chiefly the half holidays, and for such 

 work no marks could be given by his form masters, but on the 

 contrary, it is only too certain that his position in other subjects 

 was affected by his devotion to natural science. 



Those who managed the affairs of the School Scientific Society 

 in 1868 (two years before Balfour left Harrow), showed their 

 appreciation of his remarkable powers by asking Prof. Huxley 

 to award the prize, which had been offered, through the libe- 

 rality of Mr. C. J. Leaf, for the best essay written during the 

 previous holidays, being a description of some district known to 

 the author. This unusual step was taken when it was found 

 that the essay sent in by Balfour and another by his friend A. J. 

 Evans, were of such raie merit, that it was felt that they were 

 worthy of being brought under the notice of such a distinguished 

 man as Prof. Huxley. His opinion of the value of these essays 

 fully jus' ified this view. 



Balfour's knowledge of geology was chiefly gained at home, 

 and no doubt it was of considerable service to him in the com- 



petition for the Natural Science Scholarships, which he gained 

 soon after he went into residence at Cambridge. 



Whether the teaching referred to in the previous lines was of 

 advantage to him or not, could be best determined by himself, 

 and it is interesting to have his judgment on this point when the 

 recollection of it was fresh in his mind. In a letter dated 

 "Cambridge, April 28, 1871," he says: "Many thanks for 

 your congratulations on my success, which is certainly chiefly 

 due to you." This opinion he again very warmly expressed to 

 me when I had the pleasure of spending a few days with him in 

 the same year after the meeting of the British Association at 

 Edinburgh. 



He left Harrow in August, 1870, having spent nearly six 

 years in the school. G. Griffith 



Harrow, August 7 



I AM sorry that I omitted in my brief sketch to point out the 

 benefits which Balfour undoubtedly derived from the science 

 teaching at Harrow, and I am sure my friend Mr. Griffith will 

 understand that it is as far as possible from my wishes to fail in 

 acknowledging the fruit of the labours which he has been carry- 

 ing on there the-e several years with such zeal and energy. 

 There can be no doubt, I think, that the training which Balfour 

 bad under Mr. Griffith not only helped towards his gaining the 

 scholarship, but materially contributed to making him the man 

 he was. What I wrote concerning his reputation at Harrow, 

 referred rather to what I understood was the general opinion of 

 the school, than to Mr. Griffith's own foreca-t of what Balfour 

 might become ; the latter I have known for a long time to be so 

 sanguine as to come near the truth. M. Foster 



On "getting" Coal by Means of Caustic Lime 



In an article on this subject (Nature, vol. xxvi. p. 299) Mr. 

 William Galloway states that this system "has been found by 

 experiment to be incapable of breaking down a hard rock or 

 shale roof, ' and is therefore, not likely to have anything but a 

 limited application. 



Will you allow me, as one who has had a good deal to do 

 with the' new process, to assure Mr. Galloway that so far as it 

 has yet been applied, it has answered every purpose in respect 

 of which gunpowder or wedging have been hitheito used. 



We have not vet had time to make a series of experiments 

 with the lime-process on hard rock, &c, as our attenti id has 

 been until now turned exclusively to the getting of coal, es- 

 pecially in those mines in which, from their fiery nature, the u-e 

 of powder has been prohibited. In the Shipley Collieries, 

 where the lime-process has been in constant operation for many 

 months, it is regularly applied to one of the hardest seams in the 

 Midland coal-field, the toughest part of which is that next the 

 roof, and this portion could never be got l.y wedging in the 

 ordinary way, but had subsequently to he hacked down into 

 slack — by the lime process, however, the coal is parted clean 

 from the roof, along the entire face operated on. 



In other districts w here it has 1 een proved to be a complete 

 success, the places selected for experiment were invariably the 

 hardest in the mine. The ca^es where the tamping has been 

 blown cut are extremely rare, and have been due to causes 

 immediately and easily rectified. 



We have no reason to believe that the process would fail in 

 its application to the mining of shales, iron ores, &c, :nd this 

 point will be settled by experiment before long, pending which 

 Mr. Galloway's conclusion on the subject is at least premature. 



Paget Mosley 



81, Warwick Road, Earl's Court, August 10 



In stating that the caustic lime process was likely to have 

 only a limited application in coal-mining operations, it was not 

 my intention to convey the impression, as Mr. Mosley arrears 

 to think it was, that the area of its usefulness would necessarily 

 be a small one. On the contrary, I believe it could be success- 

 fully emi loyed in getting coal under a large variety of circum- 

 stances. 



Mr. Mosley's connection with the subject could not well be 

 more intimate than that of the gentlemen who supplied me w ith 

 the information brought forward in the article referred to, and I 

 understood them to say that experiments had been made with 

 the roof of Shipley Collieries, giving results which amply justified 

 the conclusions I stated. 



