

























A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
“* To the solid ground 
Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH. 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 1923. 

CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Scientific Worthies. XLII. — sg ee ANTOON 
Lorentz. By Sir Jo — Larmor, F. i I 
The Botanical ae ° — i Malaya f 6 
Geodetic Levelling. By G ol Se 7 
Scientific Work in the Deich "Bast Indian Seas. By 
Dr. W. G. N. van der Sleen . 9 
For the Diffusion of peereter: 10 
Our Bookshelf. Il 
Letters to the Editor :— 
Broadcasting Transmitter. — Sir Oliver Lodge, 
The Green Fiash at Sunset.—J. Evershed, F.R.S. a 
Thermal Opalescence in Crystals and the Colour of 
Ice in Glaciers.—Prof. C. V. Raman . 13 
The Cause of Chambering in Oysters and other 
Lamellibranchs —Edith Worsnop and Dr. J. H. 
Orton . : 14 
The Hardness of Vitreous Silica. Cosmo. ‘Johns and 
Prof. Cecil H. Desch. : 15 
Distribution of the Organ-Pipe Diatom, Bacillaria 
paradoxa.—F. Chapman. 15 
Speculation concerning the Positive Electron. —Dr. 
Horace H. Poole 15 
The Hemoglobin Distribution on Surfaces of Erythro- 
cytes.—Prof. Benjamin S. Neuhausen 16 
The Local Handbook of the British Association.—T. 
Sheppard . 16 
Occult. Phenomena and After-images. —Dr. F. W. 
Edridge-Green . 4 16 
Experiments on Hardness and Penetration. —A. S.E. 
ckermann . 17 
The Borderland of Astronomy and Geology. By 
Prof. A. S. Eddington, F.R.S. 7 18 
Nature and Reproduction of Speech Sounds. (Mlus- 
trated.) By Sir Richard Paget, Bart. . > ar 
bituary :— 
C. L. Wragge: David Sosa 23 
Current Topics and Events : 24 
Our Astronomical Column . 27 
Research Items . 28 
wae Hypothesis. (Iustrated). ‘By W. B. 
ri to) 
are (Nationa Research Council of | America. By z 
i I 
International Contributions to Mendelism . = a 
The Oldebroek Explosion of October 28, 1922 . 32 
University and Educational Intelligence 33 
Societies and Academies . . 34 
Official Publications Recaget 36 
Diary of Societies 36 
NO. 2775, VOL. er] 
Scientific Worthies. 
XLII.—HeEnprik ANTOON LORENTZ. 
HE outstanding leader in physical science who 
is the subject of this notice was born at Arnheim 
in Holland on July 18, 1853, graduated at Leyden in 
1875, became Professor of Mathematical Physics at 
that University as early as 1878, discharged the duties 
of that Chair with great brilliancy until his appoint- 
ment a few years ago to the direction for research in 
the historical Teyler Institute at Haarlem, leaving 
Ehrenfest as his successor. He retains his connexion 
with Leyden as Honorary Professor, and does not 
treat that position as a sinecure: the weekly lecture 
delivered by him, and usually reported for publication 
by members of his audience, is one of the outstanding 
events in the University life. At Haarlem he leads 
the philosophic life, enjoying the society of his grand- 
children, controlling the physical side of the Institute, 
which is also famous on the artistic side for the collec- 
tion of the great local painter Franz Hals. The 
jubilee of his doctorate on December 11, 1900, was 
commemorated by the presentation of a volume of 
researches contributed by most of the notable culti- 
vators of physical science in the world. 
Since the middle ages the Low Countries have always 
been a seat of fervent and productive intellectual 
activity. In early times they were conspicuous for 
a broadening of the Catholic theological learning in 
the direction of humanism. Later, in the congenial 
soil provided by the achievement of ordered political 
liberty, they became a focus of Protestant learning, 
which under the stimulus of free controversy broadened 
out into the domains of Jurisprudence and Polity. 
Holland was the peaceful refuge of students such as 
Descartes and Spinoza : its free press played a principal 
part in the spread of learning in Europe, and was even 
