Ferruary 13, 190S] 



NA TURE 



349 



trary to general belief, a place for teaching physical 

 science practically was not necessarily a very costly 

 alTair. Shenstone while with me assisted in various 

 lines of experimental research, and after leaving was 

 good enough to return and devote a whole month of 

 the summer holiday; to work in the laboratory. In those 

 days no science master who had ambition to be more 

 than a teaching machine could refresh his own mind 

 or take part in the advancement of his subject save at 

 the sacrifice of lecreation, health, and pocket; and 

 the pity of it is that times are not greatly altered 

 in this respect. 



In 1880 Shenstone was appointed chief science 

 master at Clifton, and, spite of heavy routine, he 

 managed to carry out admirable and difficult work 

 on ozone, and on the properties of certain highly 

 purified substances, from which he drew the important 

 conclusion that in certain cases two elements can 

 unite together without the presence of that minute 

 quantity of a third substance which had been sup- 

 posed by some chemists to be invariably necessary. 



Shenstone was a skilful glass-blower and an excel- 

 lent popular lecturer. He was instrumental in intro- 

 ducing vitrified silica as a material for making tubes, 

 flasks and other vessels for laboratory use which are 

 now manufactured in a clear form bv Messrs. Johnson 

 and Matthey. The production of this material was 

 described by Shenstone in a lecture at the Royal 

 Institution in igoi. 



He died on February 3, after a long illness, at 

 Mullion, South Cornwall, aged fifty-eight; and 

 there he lies in the old churchyard within sight of 

 the Cornish sea, which he so much loved. 



Shenstone married in 1883 Mildred, daughter of 

 the late Rev. R. N. Durrant, of Wootton, Canterbury, 

 who survives him. together with a son and daughter. 



\\"lI.I.I.\M A. TlLDKN. 



NOTES. 

 At the annual genrral meeting of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society to be held to-morrow (Friday) the president will 

 deliver an address on presenting the gold medal of the 

 society to Sir David Gill, K.C.B., F.R.S., to whom it has 

 been awarded for his contributions to the astronomy of 

 the southern hemisphere and his other astronomical work. 



The Dublin meeting of the British Association will be 

 held on September 2-9 under the presidency of Mr. Francis 

 Darwin, F.R.S. The sectional presidents are as follows : — 

 A, Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S. ; B, Prof. F. S. Kipping, 

 F.R.S. ; C, Prof. J. Joly, F.R.S. ; D, Dr. S. F. Harmer, 

 F.R.S. ; E, Major E. H. Hills, C.M.G. ; F, Lord Brassey, 

 K.C.B. ; G, Mr. Dugald Clerk; H, Prof. W. Ridgeway ; 

 I, Dr. J. S. Haldane; K, Dr. F. F. Blackman, F.R.S.; 

 L, Prof. L. C. Miall, F.R.S. There will also be a sub- 

 section of Section F, to be concerned with agriculture, and 

 the chairman will be Sir Horace Plunkett, K.C.V.O., 

 F.R.S. The first evening discourse will be delivered by 

 Prof. H. H. Turner, F.R.S., on " Halley's Comet," and 

 the second by Prof. W. M. Davis, of Harvard University, 

 on " The Lessons of the Colorado Caiion." 



The death is announced, at the age of eighty-seven, of 

 the Rev. F. Howlett, whose drawings and observations 

 of sun-spots have appeared in various publications, and 

 will be remembered by many students of solar physics. 



The thirty-fifth annual dinner of old students of the 



Royal School of Mines will be held on Wednesday, 



March 18, at the Hotel Cecil. The chair will be taken by 

 Dr. R. Pearce. 



NO 1998, VOL. y'j'\ 



The Mary Kingsley medal, which was struck by die 

 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine for presentation to 

 distinguished investigators and others who have aided Ihe 

 cause of combating disease in the tropics, has been pre- 

 sented to Lord Lister, who formally opened the school on 

 April 21, 1899. The medal was forwarded to Lord Lister 

 with a letter signed by Princess Christian (hon. president). 

 Sir Alfred Jones (chairman). Sir Rubert Boyce (dean), and 

 Mr. Alan. Milne (secretary), in which it was stated :; — 

 " No words of ours are required to amplify the .esteem 

 in which your magnificent achievements are held through- 

 out the world. The Mary Kingsley memorial, medal has 

 been founded for the purpose of recognising the work of 

 those who have accomplished' much in the cause of tropical 

 medicine. No one has accomplished, more for this cause, 

 or, indeed, for the whole cause of medicine, than yourself. 

 The school feel honoured that your lordship has consented 

 to receive the medal." 



We regret to learn from the City Press that Mr. R. J. 

 Friswell, whose name is well known among analytical 

 chemists, died on February 6 after a brief illness. Mr. 

 Friswell studied at the Royal College of Chemistry under 

 Sir Edward Frankland, and later acted as assistant at St. 

 Mary's Hospital to Dr. W. J. Russell. Subsequently he 

 engaged in research work at the Royal College, being 

 appointed in that connection on the staff of the Indian 

 Eclipse Expedition, and later, on his return to London, 

 continuing to assist Sir Norman Lockyer in his spectro- 

 scopic researches. Afterwards, for many years, he was 

 the chief chemist to the firm of Brooke, Simpson, and 

 Spiller, leaving them to become the scientific adviser of the 

 British Uralite Company, Ltd. For the last few years he 

 had been in practice for himself as an analytical chemist 

 in Great Tower Street. Mr. Friswell was elected a Fellow 

 of the Chemical Society in 1871, and served on the council 

 for several years ; he was one of the founders of the 

 Institute of Chemistry, and last year was chairman of the 

 London section of the Society of Chemical Industry. 



We notice with regret the announcement that Sir J. D. 

 Macdonald, K.C.B., F.R.S., retired Inspector-General of 

 Hospitals and Fleets, died at .Southall on February 7 in 

 his eighty-first year. Sir J. D. Macdonald entered the 

 Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon in 1849, and was 

 placed in charge of the Plymouth Hospital Museum. In 

 1852 he joined H.M.S. Herald, and from that date until 

 July, 1859, when promoted to surgeon, he was employed on 

 surveying and exploring service in the south-west Pacific. 

 After many years of almost unremitting microscopic work 

 on the products of the sounding-lead, dredge, and towing- 

 net, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His 

 next promotion came in 1866, and for nine years he held 

 the post of professor of naval hygiene at the Netley 

 Medical School. In the meantime he was awarded the 

 Macdougal-Brisbane medal of the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh in 1862, and the Gilbert Blane medal in 1871. He 

 was the author of numerous papers read before the Royal 

 Societies of London and Edinburgh and other societies. 

 His published works also included " A Guide to the Micro- 

 scopical Examination of Drinking Water," "Analogy of 

 Sound and Colour," and "Outlines of Naval Hygiene." 

 He was made a Deputy-Inspector-General of Hospitals and 

 Fleets in February, 1875, and five years later was again 

 promoted, holding from 1883 to i886, when he retired from 

 active service, the charge of the Naval Hospital at Stone- 

 house. In 1902 he was made a K.C.B. 



The February number of the Strand Magasine contains 

 two articles of interest to readers of Nature. In the one. 



