500 



NA TURE 



[March 26, 190S 



Finally, objection must be taken to the proposal to 

 substitute the generic name Acropora for the well-known 

 and widely distributed coral that is usually called Madre- 

 pora, a proposal originally due to Verrill, bvit one which 

 cannot be accepted. The name Madrepora has been used 

 for this genus since the time of Lamarck (1801), and has 

 become definitely established by use in all the principal 

 memoirs on the subject and in the museums of the world. 

 To change it now can lead to no useful purpose, and can 

 but produce a perfectly unnecessary confusion ; and the 

 confusion will be all the worse confounded if, as is pro- 

 posed, the generic name be transferred to the equally 

 well-known imperforate coral Oculina. 



It may be true that if we are entirely to conform to the 

 so-called rules of nomenclature the change is justified, but 

 these rules were drawn up, not for the confusion of science, 

 but for its convenience and for the sake of simplicity ; and 

 when it is found, as in this case, that they are likely to 

 produce just the opposite effect from that for which they 

 were intended they must either be amended or broken. 

 This is by no means an isolated case, for it has been pro- 

 posed on the same plea that we should use the name 

 Polypus for the common octopus, Astacus for the lobster, 

 Potamobius for the fresh-water crayfish, and that manv 

 other changes of a similar kind should be introduced. It 

 has been found in practice, not only inconvenient, but 

 practically impossible, to make these changes, and the 

 customary names are still used. So it will be with the 

 name Madrepora. We may argue and plead as we like 

 for the change, but custom is too strong for us, and the 

 proposal will not be accepted. The time has come when 

 the committee of the International Congress of Zoologv 

 should reconsider seriously the question of the maintenance 

 of the names of well-known or widely distributed genera, 

 and endeavour thereby to prevent the confusion with which 

 the strict adherence to I.innean nomenclature threatens us. 



S. J. HiCKSON. 



COMMEMORATIVE DINNER TO SIR 

 WILLIAM RAMSAY, K.C.B., F R.S. 

 T N commemoration of the twenty-first anniversary of -Sir 

 William Ramsay's election to the chair of chemistry 

 in University College, London, the professors of the 

 college entertained him to dinner on iVIarch 18. The 

 Provost, Dr. T. Gregory Foster, was in the chair, and 

 covers were laid for eighty persons. The guests included 

 Lord Rayleigh, Lord Rc'ay, Sir Norman Lockver, Sir 

 Alexander Kennedy, the Master of the Temple, the Masters 

 of the Worshipful Companies of Drapers, Mercers, and 

 Carpenters, the president of the .Societv of Chemical 

 Industry, the Clerk of the Fishmongers' Company, Prof. 

 H. B. Dixon, Prof. A. Smithells, Prof. J. M. Thomson, 

 Prof. Meldola, Mr T. Harrison Townsend, Mr. Henrv 

 Higgs, Mr. M. Carteighe, Dr. E. M. Borrago, Dr. F. 

 Clowes, and Colonel Wolseley Cox. 



After the toast to the Kiiig had been drunk v.ith due 

 honour, the chairman explained that the dinner was, in 

 the first place, the means of expressing the personal 

 affection and admiration of his colleagues for Sir AVilliam 

 Ramsay. Leaving it to others to tell what Sir William's 

 contributions to science had been, the chairman referred 

 to the services he had rendered to the college and to 

 London by establishing a great school of chemistry, and 

 also to his perseverance and tact in questions relating to 

 the re-organisation of the University of London. He had 

 never been weary of expressing the great principles of 

 the true relation of examinations to teaching in the Uni- 

 versity, and of emphasising the view so strongly held by 

 him that in all university examinations the candidates' 

 teachers should of necessity have a share. 



Lord Rayleigh then proposed the health of Sir William 

 Ramsay. He told how, twenty-one years ago, when he 

 was secretary of the Royal Society, papers from Ramsay 

 passed in rapid succession through his hands. Many of 

 the older members, perhaps because they were old, hardly 

 approved of his new methods; but, fortunately, these 

 papers were accepted. Proceeding, he reminded the com- 

 pany of the work which Sir William had done in investi- 

 gatmg the gases of the atmo.sphere, of the never failing 

 energy which led him to new discoveries. 



NO. 2004, VfL. 77] 



Prof. Dixon seconded the toast, and in doing so 

 attempted to take the view of a later generation in look- 

 ing back on Sir William Ramsay's work. Having briefly 

 summarised that work as a contribution to the develop- 

 ments of chemistry, he concluded by comparing his activity 

 10 that of radium' itself. 



The toast having been enthusiastically drunk. Sir 

 William Ramsay replied. After thanking his colleagues 

 for their invariable kindness and helpfulness, and his 

 assistants and students for their loyalty and devotion to 

 their work, he emphasised the debt that he owed to them 

 in whatever, he had accomplished, and went on to explain 

 how he had received the first suggestion which led to the 

 discovery of argon, and how generously Lord Rayleigh 

 had allowed him to follow out that suggestion. He dwelt, 

 further, on the questions raised by the chairman in con- 

 nection with university organisation, and expressed the 

 hope that the L"niversity of London would even more fully 

 than it had at present develop the principles to which 

 reference had been made. 



At a later stage in the evening, in reply to an inquiry 

 from one of the guests as to when a new laboratory would 

 be built for Sir William, the chairman stated that, though 

 they have the ground and the plans, they have not yet 

 obtained the money for buildings. 



Prof. Ker then proposed the health of the other guests, 

 and Lord Reay replied. In view of his close connection 

 with the college as president and chairman, his lordship 

 said that he could hardly consider himself a guest within 

 the college walls, but he thanked the professors for having 

 done him the honour to invite him to commemorate with 

 them Sir William Ramsay's twenty-first anniversary. He 

 proceeded to tell of the great work which Sir William 

 had done in advising Mr. Tata about the organisation of 

 the new institute that he had founded in India, and how 

 Sir William's influence was likely to be extended through 

 the fact that one of his pupils. Dr. Morris Travers, was 

 holding the position of head of that institution. Referring 

 to the need of new laboratories for the chemical depart- 

 ment, and the inconvenient accommodation now provided 

 for .Sir William Ramsay, Lord Reay hoped that just as 

 at Essen the little cottage had been preserved from which 

 the great Krupp gun factory was developed, so that when 

 the new laboratories were built, which his lordship hoped 

 would be soon, the room in which Sir William Ramsay's 

 discoveries had been made should be also preserved. 



Expressions of regret for absence were received from 

 the Chancellor of the University (Lord Rosebery), from 

 the Principal (Sir .Arthur Riicker), from Profs. Tilden, 

 Crum Brown, and manv others. 



.VEir SLIDE-RULES. 

 A/[ESSRS. J. J. GRIFFIN AND SONS, LTD., of 

 ■*■ -^ Kingsway, London, have sent examples of two slide- 

 rules which they are introducing at a very low price — the 

 longer one, which is 25 cm. in length, at 2S., and the 

 shorter, which is 12.5 cm. in length, at li. These rules 

 with their slides are made of card, and the divisions are 

 printed. In point of clearness and accuracy they are nearly 

 equal to the best rules divided on celluloid, and they are 

 vastly superior to the old-fashioned box-wood rules of 

 thirty or forty years ago. In each case the upper lines 

 of the slide and of the rule go from i to 10 twice over 

 or from i to 100. being what are called " A " and " B 

 lines, while the lower lines of the slide and of the rule 

 are on twice the scale, being " D " lines. Each is pro- 

 vided with a cursor with chisel pointers both to right and 

 left. The back of the slide and all the remaining spaces 

 on the rule are left plain. The accuracy of the surfaces 

 of juxtaposition is specially noteworthy, and is greatly in 

 excess of what is generally associated with card struc- 

 tures. Each is provided with a paper imitation-leather 

 case. With rules such as these, the real utility of the 

 slide-rule may, it is hoped, be brought home to thousands 

 to whom the expense of the now nearly universal celluloid 

 rule is prohibitive ; it may even be hoped that some daring 

 mathematical master in a public school may see fit to 

 inculcate the wholesome practice of making calculations 

 not vastly more accurate than any possible knowledge of 

 the data can be, and use rules such as these both to 



