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June 16, 19 
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ae Pror. JoHN Cox. 
3 Se death of Prof. John Cox at Hayes Court, 
ae Hayes, on May 13, removes an_ interesting 
_ personality from our midst. Prof. Cox devoted an 
active life to the cause of education and had a varied 
educational career, holding, at different times, the 
post of University extension lecturer, headship of a 
Cambridge college, and a professorship in physics in 
a Canadian University. 
Born in 185r, Cox was a brilliant scholar of the 
City of London School under Dr. Abbott, where he 
was a contemporary and competitor for scholastic 
honours with his friend H. H. Asquith. He went as 
a scholar to Trinity College, Cambridge, and studied 
mathematics, being eighth wrangler in 1874. Equally 
versed in classics, he took a good place in the Classical 
Tripos of the same year. He gained a fellowship at 
Trinity College on a dissertation in which he applied 
Hamilton’s methods to some problems in geometrical 
optics. He was for ten years warden of Cavendish 
College, Cambridge—a new College offering residential 
facilities to a younger class of undergraduates at a 
reduced cost. Ultimately the College was closed down, | 
though some years after Cox had severed his connexion 
with it. 
In 1890 Cox was appointed professor of physics 
in McGill University, Montreal. Previous to that time 
the physics had been taught with small facilities by 
Dr. Johnson, professor of mathematics. This appoint- 
ment gave Cox a great opportunity, for it was at the 
time that McGill University was rapidly growing, 
through the munificent gifts of the late Sir William 
Macdonald. Ample funds were offered to build a new 
physics laboratory, and, before making plans, Cox 
was sent on a mission to study the physical laboratories 
in Europe and the United States. He threw himself 
with great energy into the new project, and the result 
was a well-designed laboratory which at the time of 
its opening was one of the finest and best equipped 

‘in the world. Under the impetus given by the appoint- | 
ment of Callendar and afterwards of Rutherford, the 
laboratory became a centre of research in physical 
science, and Cox followed with pride and enthusiasm 
the pioneer researches of Rutherford and Soddy on 
radioactivity. 
While keenly interested in all developments of | 
physics, Cox had not the practical training requisite 
for research in experimental physics, but devoted 
himself to the teaching and administrative side. A 
fluent and polished speaker, he was an admirable 
lecturer, and as a speaker for popular audiences on | 
scientific and general topics he had few superiors. It 
was characteristic of his temperament that he was 
somewhat dilatory in ordinary business matters and 
often required the spur of necessity to deal with corre- 
spondence. A man of wide interests and wide social 
sympathies he exercised a strong influence for good 
both in Montreal and the University. In 1909 
he retired from McGill with a Carnegie pension to 
live in England, and was awarded the honorary degree 
of LL.D. by McGill University. He immediately took 
up the work of lecturing for the Oxford Extension 
Delegacy and particularly for the Gilchrist Trust. This 
NO. 2798, VOL. 111] 
817 
_ | was a type of work which he thoroughly enjoyed and 
carried out with great enthusiasm and success. During 
the War, he offered his services to the Ministry of 
Munitions and assisted in the work of the munition ¢ 
tribunals. 
After the death of his wife, Cox lived at Hayes 
Court witha daughter. He retained his enthusiasm for 
science to the end and, before his illness became acute, 
followed with keen interest the work of Einstein and 
Bohr. Of his publications, the best known is his book 
-on mechanics published by the Cambridge University 
Press. This useful work was written on novel lines, 
being largely influenced by the writings of Marx, of 
whom he was an admirer. Another small book, “ Beyond 
the Atom,” gives a vivid account of the bearing of 
_the earlier radioactive researches, with which he had 
come in contact in Montreal, on the structure of 
matter. A man of fine character, of attractive 
personality and varied gifts, his unexpected end will 
| be mourned by a wide circle of friends. He leaves 
two daughters and a son, who is a mining engineer 
in Canada. 
Mr. R. W. Hoorey. 
_ Mr. Recinatp Witii1am Hootey, whose death on 
| May 5 at the age of fifty-seven we regret to record, 
devoted many years to the study of the geology of the 
Isle of Wight, and to the systematic exploration of 
'the Wealden rocks of the south coast. He made an 
‘important collection of the remains of reptiles and 
‘fishes from the cliffs between Brook and Atherfield, 
and established a small museum at his residence at 
Winchester. He also acquired an excellent knowledge 
of the Wealden reptiles, which he extricated from the 
‘hard rock with great skill, and he wrote several 
important papers on his specimens. He described 
/new Chelonia in the Geological Magazine in 1897 and 
1900. 
In 1904 Mr. Hooley was elected a fellow of the 
Geological Society, and he contributed papers on 
unique specimens of the crocodile Goniopholis and the 
| pterodactyl Ornithodesmus to the Society’s Quarterly 
| Journal in 1907 and 1913. During recent years he 
discovered and prepared a skeleton of Iguanodon, 
in some respects finer than the well-known specimens 
at Brussels and showing parts of the skin. Of this 
remarkable fossil he wrote an exhaustive memoir, 
| illustrated by his own drawings, which he had intended 
' to read to the Geological Society at a recent meeting. 
Mr. Hooley was an indefatigable worker, with only 
scanty leisure to devote to science, and his premature 
death is regretted by the large circle of geologists 
and palzontologists who enjoyed his friendship and 
co-operation. His specimens of Goniopholis and 
Ornithodesmus are already in the Geological Depart- 
ment of the British Museum (Natural History), and 
the rest of his collection is destined to be added to 
them. ADion We 
| 
1 

WE regret that the date of the death of Mr. F. W. 
Harmer was given incorrectly in Nature of June 9 as 
April 24: it should have been April 11. 
