228 

ends of the two systems meet and the folds fall into 
line. 
In Africa, according to Wegener, the ancient gneiss 
foundation shows a sudden change of strike at the head 
of the Gulf of Guinea, and in South America there is a 
similar sudden change at Cape St. Roque. When the 
two continents are brought together the two different 
strikes and the line of separation between them become 
continuous. But in bringing about this coincidence he 
gives to the gneiss north of the Gulf of Guinea a north- 
east to south-west strike, and this is very far from the 
truth. Over a large part of the area the actual observa- 
tions indicate that the prevalent direction is from north 
to south. 
NATURE 
[ FEBRUARY 17, 1923 
In South Africa a folded mountain range runs from 
east to west. In Buenos Ayres a folded range belonging 
to the same period has been described. According to 
Wegener one was the direct continuation of the 
other. But before they reach the western coast the 
South African folds, and the range that they have 
formed, turn to the north and run roughly parallel to the 
western coast. Wegener’s explanation of this deviation 
is far from convincing. 
It will thus be clear that the geological features of the 
two sides of the Atlantic do not unite in the way that 
Wegener imagines, and if the continental masses ever 
were continuous they were not fitted as Wegener has 
fitted them. 
Obituary. 
Pror. GEORGE LUNGE. 
Sp January 3 Prof. Lunge died in his eighty-fourth 
year. For more than thirty years, from 1876 to 
1907, he held the professorship of applied chemistry 
in the Polytechnic Institute of Ziirich, directing the 
destinies of this department with characteristic energy, 
and with a success that attracted students from far and 
near, who sought to equip themselves for a career in 
industrial chemistry by a training under one who was 
recognised as the authority, especially in the branch 
of the manufacture of “ heavy chemicals.” 
Dr. Lunge by his literary activity, as in other ways, 
contributed greatly to the advancement of chemical 
technology. His treatise on “Sulphuric Acid and 
Alkali,” which has passed through several editions, is 
not only indispensable to the technologist, but is also 
replete with knowledge. As Mr. T. W. Stuart, him- 
self a leader in the alkali industry in this country, 
and one of the few early contemporaries of Dr. Lunge, 
recently stated, “‘ When you refer to these books on 
any obscure subject in the Alkali industry, you never 
go empty away, but always find in them a wealth of 
information.” + A similar statement might justly be 
made in respect to Lunge’s “ Coal Tar and Ammonia,” 
his “‘ Technical Chemists’ Handbook,” and his “‘ Hand- 
book of Methods of Technical Gas Analysis,” etc., each 
and all of which are essential to the equipment of the 
chemical technologist. 
George Lunge was born at Breslau on September 15, 
1839 ; from 1856 to 1859 he studied at the universities 
of Breslau and Heidelberg, graduating as Ph.D. In 
1864 he came to England, ‘with the object of obtaining 
technical experience. For a part of the twelve years 
spent in this country he was employed in the tar dis- 
tillery of Messrs. Major and Co. at Wolverhampton, and 
in 1868 he was appointed chemist and manager to the 
Tyneside Alkali Company at South Shields. Dr. Lunge’s 
efforts to obtain a footing in one or other of the twenty- 
six chemical works on the Tyne were at first far from 
encouraging, for, as Mr. Stuart tells us, a partner in 
one of the largest of these works offered Dr. Lunge the 
post of chemist at 11. per week, which even at that 
time was but 2s. above the wage of a labourer! In 
the small works at South Shields Dr. Lunge continued 
until 1876, when he received the call to the chair of 
applied chemistry at Ziirich, It is not without interest 
* Chemical Trade Journal and Chemical Engineer, January 19. 
NO. 2781, VOL. 111] 
to note that his chief publications and researches deal 
with those phases of chemical industry, with the actual 
practice of which his sojourn in England had made him 
familiar. 
At the time of his residence on Tyneside the Newcastle 
Chemical Society was founded, with Mr. Isaac Lowthian 
Bell (later Sir Lowthian Bell, Bart.) as its first president. 
Dr. Lunge became a member of this society, taking an 
active part in its proceedings and was elected president 
in 1872. In 1883 this society became merged into the 
Society of Chemical Industry and was formed into a 
local section of that society. However, Dr. Lunge, until 
the time of his death, retained his membership of the 
local section, using its Proceedings as the medium of 
publication from time to time of important scientific 
communications, and in many other ways evincing his 
sustained interest in its welfare. 
The first Hurter Memorial Lecture was delivered in 
1899 by Dr. Lunge before the Liverpool section of 
the Society of Chemical Industry, who selected for 
the subject of the lecture—‘‘ Impending changes in 
the general development of industry, and particularly 
the Alkali industry.” 
Drs. Hurter and Lunge, like many German chemists, 
e.g. Caro, Pauly, Otto Witt and others, came to England 
in the sixties of last century to gain a practical know- 
ledge of British chemical industries. Dr. Hurter re- 
mained in this country and became identified with the 
Lancashire alkali industry, while Dr. Lunge returned to 
the continent, and based his teachings and writings on 
experience gained in the rival industry of the Tyne. 
Dr. Lunge had a complete command of the English 
language, writing and speaking it with ease and fluency. 
He married Miss Bowron, the daughter of a member 
of the firm of the owners of the Tyneside Alkali works 
at South Shields. Po Pee 

Pror, JAMES RITCHIE. 
We ‘much regret to record the death of Prof. James 
Ritchie, Irvine professor of bacteriology in the Uni- 
versity ‘of Edinburgh. Up to the end of the summer 
term of 1922 Prof. Ritchie carried on his work with 
his customary energy and zest. In the holiday which 
he took during August in Perthshire, however, the early 
symptoms of his last illness began to give anxiety, and 
he died on January 28. 
The record of Ritchie’s life shows that since he 
2 se eaneean mma 
