December 5, 1907] 



NA TURE 



evidence produced, and largely confirmed the corrections 

 already advanced by Rowland and others. A main cause 

 of discrepancy had been found to be the variation of the 

 thermal capacity of water with the temperature ; and by 

 an investigation in which this variation was determined, 

 GrilTiths elucidated and correlated fundamentally the work 

 of previous observers, from Joule onward. Of special 

 importance also, in the domain of chemical physics, was 

 an investigation of the depression of the freezing point of 

 water by very dilute admixture of dissolved substances, 

 wherein he verified, with all the refinement of absolute 

 physical determinations, that the change of freezing point 

 ran exactly parallel to the electric conductivity when the 

 dilution of the electrolysable salt was comparable to that 

 of gases, being twice as much per molecule as the standard 

 value of the depression for non-electrolytes. 



Buchanan Medal. 



The Buchanan medal is awarded to Mr. William Henry 

 Power, C.B., F.R.S. Mr. Power's services to hygienic 

 science and practice have extended over a period of more 

 than thirty years, and have been of the most distinguished 

 kind. He has himself personally conducted successful 

 inquiries into the causes of the spread of various diseases, 

 and has obtained results which have proved of the greatest 

 Denefit to mankind. Moreover, in his long connection 

 with the medical department of the Local Government 

 Board he has planned and directed numerous general and 

 local investigations whereby our knowledge of disease, and 

 of the methods of coping with it, have been greatly in- 

 creased. The medical reports issued by the Local Govern- 

 ment Board, which are universally regarded as among the 

 most important contributions of our time to this subject, 

 have for many years past been either written by him or 

 owe much to his editorial criticism and supervision. It is 

 not too much to say that no living man in this country 

 has advanced the cause of scientific hygiene more than Mr. 

 Power, or is more worthy of the distinction of the 

 Buchanan medal. 



In the evening of the anniversary meeting, the 

 fellows of the society and their guests dined together 

 at the Whitehall Rooms of the H6tel Mi^tropole. Lord 

 Ravleigh was in the chair, and responded to the toast 

 of the Royal Society proposed bv Lord Dunedin. 

 Speeches were also made by several of the medallists, 

 and by Lord Fitzmaurice and the Dean of West- 

 minster. 



In proposing the toast of " The Royal Society " at the 

 anniversarv dinner on Saturday last. Lord Dunedin referred 

 to the popularisation of science as one of the functions of 

 a society which exists for the promotion of natural know- 

 ledge. This remark provides the subject of a letter by an 

 anonymous correspondent in Tuesday's Times. The writer 

 urges that the neglect of science in this country is largely 

 due to the indifference shown by scientific men to the 

 intellectual interests of the average reader. Few men of 

 science make any attempt to describe their investigations 

 in language which can be understood by men of culture 

 without special scientific knowledge, and it is scarcely too 

 much to say that most investigators are so closely absorbed 

 in their particular researches that whether the world in 

 general knows anvthing of the results or not is regarded 

 as no concern of theirs. This spirit, and the obscure and 

 diffuse manner in which scientific investigations are often 

 (liscribed are to be deplored. Lord Rayleigh, in the presi- 

 dential address which appears elsewhere in this issue, 

 directs attention to the undigested material often presented 

 as papers to scientific societies ; and it seems as if the zeal 

 for research is rarely accompanied by the aspiration for 

 simplicity of expression. Prof. M. E. Sadler suggests in 

 Wednesday's Times that the neglect of the teaching of 

 the mother tongue in our schools provides a reason " why 

 so many Englishmen of learning and high scientific attain- 



No. 1988, VOL. yy] 



ment are unable to express themselves in a lucid and 

 stimulating way." It may be pointed out, however, that 

 though rhetoric receives more attention in the United 

 States than it does in this country, the style of scientific 

 papers and other works from America is not superior to 

 that of our own scientific literature. But whatever the 

 explanation may be, there can be only one opinion as to 

 the advantage of increasing interest in scientific work by 

 making the results as widely known as possible. 



The formation of the Royal Society of Medicine has 

 already been the subject of a congratulatory note in these 

 columns. The inaugural dinner of the society, held on 

 Tuesday last, December 3, was a remarkable testimony 

 to the successful establishment of what Sir Ray Lankester 

 described on that occasion as the National Academy of 

 Medicine. The society consists of thirteen federated sec- 

 tions, representing fifteen pre-existing societies, and it is 

 hoped that other sections will be included before long, so 

 that no branch of medical knowledge will be unrepresented 

 in the society. The number of fellows is upwards of 1800, 

 and of members above 600, and there is every reason to 

 anticipate that these numbers will be considerably increased 

 now that the society is in full working order. The library, 

 which has been strengthened by the inclusion of those of 

 the Odontological and Obstetrical Societies with that of 

 the Royal Medical and Chirurgical, now consists of 

 upwards of 70,000 volumes, and in the reading-room of 

 the society no fewer than eighty-nine British and 180 

 foreign periodicals can be consulted. Sir W. Church, 

 president of the society, who presided at the dinner on 

 Tuesday, bore testimony to the manner in which the 

 various bodies now forming the Royal Society of Medicine 

 have been willing to sacrifice somewhat of their indepen- 

 dence and individual prestige for the common good. Never 

 in the history of medicine has there been a time in which 

 so wide a field has engaged the attention of medical men 

 as the present. In every department of medicine, science 

 has placed at the disposal of medical men new methods 

 and fresh means, not only for the investigation, but also 

 for the treatment of disease, and the ground to be covered 

 in each branch of medicine must as time goes on neces- 

 sarily increase. To provide every facility for diffusing the 

 increased knowledge which is being gained and enable 

 the profession to keep in touch with what is going on is 

 perhaps at the present time the main object of the society ; 

 but the time will come, and that soon, when the Royal 

 Society of Medicine will be in a position, not only to 

 discuss the value of the researches brought to its notice, 

 but also, through the appointment of scientific committees, 

 to add to knowledge. 



The Lalande medal has been awarded by the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences to Mr. Thomas Lewis, of the Green- 

 wich Observatory, and secretary of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society. 



Sir W. H. Bennett, K.C.V.O., has been elected presi- 

 dent of the Incorporated Institute of Hygiene in succession 

 to the late Sir W. H. Broadbent, F.R.S. 



An experiment in the breeding of Maine lobsters in the 

 Pacific Ocean is about to be tried by the U.S. Commission 

 of Sea and Shore Fisheries. A car-load of seed lobsters 

 has already been dispatched by a fast express from the 

 Government hatchery at Boothbay to the western coast. 



By the death of Mr. M. Walton Brown, which occurred 

 on November 22, the Institution of Mining Engineers loses 

 an indefatigable secretary and the profession of coal 

 mining one of its most useful representatives. Mr. Walton 

 Brown was the author of numerous papers on mining 



