178 



NA TURE 



[December 26, 1907 



munity g-enerally. In the Abbey he has joined a noble 

 company of departed worthies — Newton, Herschel, 

 Lycll, Spottiswoodc, Darwin — names that perpetuate 

 some of the most glorious and imperishable achieve- 

 ments in natural knowledge. Especially gratifying 

 must it be to the Royal Society to feel that the remains 

 of their illustrious past-president find a resting-place 

 side bv side with those of Sir Isaac Newton. 



The representative gathering that filled the Abbey 

 on Monday, December 23, afforded ample testimony 

 to the wide and varied interests, apart from pure 

 science, that dominated the career of Lord Kelvin. Not 

 onlv a brilliant moving figure in the hierarchy of 

 science, he was also a great citizen, ever mindful of 

 the best traditions of English public life. 



The funeral service, which commenced at noon, was 

 of the most impressive character. The King was re- 

 presented by T-iis Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.G. ; the 

 Prince of Wales by Lt.-Col. Sir Arthur Bigge, 

 G.C.V.O. ; and the Duke of Connaught by Major L. 

 Green-Wilkinson. The Princess Louise (Duchess of 

 -Argyll) was present, attended by a lady and gentle- 

 man in waiting. Seats in the choir stalls were occupied 

 by:— 



Lady Rayleigh, the Russian and Italian Ambassadors, 

 Mr. J. Ridgely Carter, representing the American 

 .Ambassador; Baron von Stumm, representing the German 

 Ambassador ; and Mr. Ijiuin, representing the Japanese 

 Ambassador ; the Lord Mayor of London (who was 

 robed), and the Master of the Clothworkcrs' Company. 

 The First Lord of the .Admiralty, Lord Tweedmouth, 

 accompanied by his secretaries, attended to represent the 

 Board of Admiralty. The Lord President of the Council 

 was represented by Mr. Almeric FitzRoy. 



At the Chapter House a procession was formed, 

 which, headed by the choir and officiating clergy, 

 slowly wended its way from the Chapel of .St. Faith 

 through the cloisters, and, while the hymn " Brief life 

 is here our portion " was being sung, to the nave, and 

 thence to the lantern, beneath which the coflfin was 

 temporarily deposited. The order was as follows : — 



Clergy and choir ; bier ; pall bearers ; chief mourners ; 

 Institute of France, M. G. Lippmann, For.Mem.R.S., M. 

 Henri Becquerel, in addition to M. Darboux, For.Mem.R.S., 

 perpetual secretary, who took part as a pall bearer ; Lord 

 Mayor of London; Master of Clothworkcrs' Company; the 

 Royal Society ; the Royal Society of Edinburgh and other 

 British and foreign learned societies ; Universities of 

 Cambridge and Oxford ; University of Glasgow and other 

 Glasgow delegations; University of Edinburgh and Cor- 

 poration of Edinburgh ; other British universities. 



.A guard of honour of the Electrical Engineer Volun- 

 teers, of which Lord Kelvin was Colonel-in-Chief, 

 lined the cloisters, Colonel R. E. B. Crompton, C.B., 

 commanding. The guard fell in at the end of the 

 procession, and took up a position in the nave. 



The pall bearers and chief mourners were as sub- 

 joined : — 



Pall Bearers. 



Ix>rd Rayleigh, O.M. Sir Edward H. Seymour, 

 (President of the Royal O.M. (Admiral of the'FIeet). 

 Society). M. Gaston Darboux, 



Mr. J. Morlcy, O.M. For.Mem.R.S. (Perpetual 

 (Secretary of State for Secretary of the Paris 

 India). .Academy of Sciences). 



Sir Archibald Geikie, The Lord Strathcona and 

 K.C.B., Sec.R.S. (President Mount Royal (High Com- 

 of the Geological Society). missioner for Canada). 



Prof. A. Crum Brown, Sir George Darwin, 

 F.R.S. (Royal Society of K.C.B., F.R.S. (University 

 Edinburgh). " of Cambridge). 



The Master of Peterhouse, Dr. MacAlister (Principal 

 Cambridge (Dr. .A. W. of the University of Glas- 

 Ward). ' gow). 



Sir ]. Wolfe-Barry, Dr. R. T. Glazcbrook, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S. (Institution F.R.S. (Institution of Elec- 

 of Civil Engineers). Irical Engineers). 



Chief Mourners. 



Dr. J. T. Bottomlcv, .Mr. James Thomson. 



F.R.S. ■ Mr. W. Bottomlcy. 



Mr. G. King. Sir Alex. Brown. 



Mr. W. Crum and two others, with four grand- 

 nephews, Mr. D. King, .Mr. J. F., Mr. \V., and Mr. G. 

 Bottomley. 



On the part of the Royal Society, in addition to 

 pall bearers and other Fellows who also represented 

 universities, there were present Mr. A. B. Kempe 

 (treasurer). Prof. Larmor (secretary), Sir W. Crookes 

 (vice-president). Sir J. Stirling, Sir John Evans, Major 

 MacMahon, &c., and Mr. R. Harrison (assistant 

 secretary). 



It is unfortunately impossible to find space here to 

 print the long list of representatives of British universi- 

 ties, scientific societies, and institutions present at the 

 funeral, and we are only able now to state that the 

 following foreign societies were represented in addi- 

 tion to the Paris Academy of Sciences already men- 

 tioned : — 



Imperial .Academy of -Sciences of Vienna, Lord 

 Rayleigh ; .Accademia dei Lincei, Rome, Sir Norman 

 Lockyer, Prof. J. J. Thomson, Sir David Gill, and 

 others; the Elektrotechnischer Verein of Berlin, Mr. 

 -A. Siemens; Society Italiana di Fisica, -Associazione 

 Elettrotecnica Italiana, and Phys. Verein Frankfurt 

 a.M., Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, &c. 



NOTES. 

 We announce with deep regret the death of Dr. Janssen, 

 director of the Meudon Astro-Physics Observatory, at 

 eighty-three years of age. 



-A Reuter message from Copenhagen states that experi- 

 ments made by the .Amalgamated Radio-Telegraph Com- 

 pany of London and Copenhagen, owners of the Poulsen 

 system of wireless telegraphy and telephony, show that wire- 

 less Poulsen telegrams between Newcastle and Copenhagen 

 and Berlin and Copenhagen can be written directly from 

 the receiver with ink as in the case of telegraphy by wirc- 



TiiE Royal Statistical Society's Guy medal in gold has 

 been presented to Prof- F. Y. Edgeworlh for his services to 

 statistical science. 



Dr. Thomas Annand.ale, Regius professor of clinical 

 surgery in the University of Edinburgh, died on December 

 20 at sixty-nine years of age. 



On Saturday next, December 28, Sir David Gill, K.C-B.. 

 F.R.S., will deliver the first of the annual course of 

 juvenile lectures at the Royal Institution on " Astronomy, 

 Old and New." The remaining lectures will be delivered 

 on December 31, January 2, 4, 7, and g. 



Mr. Eliiiu Thomson, writing from the General Electric 

 Company, Lynn, Mass., U.S.A., comments upon the de- 

 scription of the exhibition of globe lightning in West 

 .-\ustralia described in our issue for October 31 (vol. 

 Ixxvi., p. 671), and provides particulars of another case 

 brought before his notice by a friend. The phenomenon 

 referred to by Mr. Thomson is said to have appeared as 

 a ball of yellow flame continuously in motion with a 

 central nucleus rose-red in colour, and to have exhibited 

 many points of similarity with the globular lightning seen 

 in .Australia on the occasion mentioned in our previous 

 note. From Mr. Thomson's letter it is not clear whether 

 the report made to him relates to globular lightning or to 

 a fireball. 



l.N the report of the Bristol Museum and -Art Gallery 

 for 1907 the committee announces that the success of the 

 combined institution during the period under review has 

 been very pronounced, the total number of visitors consider- 

 ably exceeding half a million. A new departure is the 



NO. 1 99 1, VOL. yy] 



