190 



NATURE 



[January 7, 1909 



DR. GEORGE GORE, F.R.S. 

 Y\R. GEORGE GORE, F.R.S. , whose death was 

 ■•--' announced last week, was born at Bristol in 

 1826, the son of a small cooper. First as errand-boy 

 and afterwards as cooper's apprentice, he devoted him- 

 self to whatever scientific studies came within his 

 reach. 



He went to Birmingham in 1851, and made his home 

 there for the remainder of his 'life. His occupations 

 were numerous and varied; at one time he was a prac- 

 titioner in medical galvanism, at another chemical ex- 

 pert in a phosphorus factory, and again a lecturer in 

 physics and chemistry at King Edward's .School. He 

 always, however, employed himself in original inves- 

 tigation, more especially in the province of electro- 

 metallurgy, whenever his other work would allow, and 

 his knowledge of electrochemical processes enabled 

 him to be of the greatest service to the electroplating 

 industry in the town of his adoption. 



His researches on hydrofluoric acid and the fluorides, 

 definitely proving the analogy of these compounds with 

 those of chlorine, are well known to chemists, and in 

 1865 he was elected to the Fellowship of the Roval 

 Society in recognition of the value of his work. ' It 

 may be noted in this connection that manv vears later 

 he was only just anticipated by Moissan in the isolation 

 of fluorine. 



In 1877 the honorarv degree of LL.D. was conferred 

 on him by the University of Edinburgh as an acknow- 

 ledgment of his services to science. Some vears later 

 he declined the offer of a knighthood, but in 1891 he 

 accepted a Civil List pension. 



_ From the age of thirteen he had had to rely upon 

 himself for his own education, which occupied all his 

 spare time at a period «hen he was earning his livinp: 

 by arduous labour. Hence it is not surprising to find 

 that one of his characteristics was an extraordinarv 

 degree of energy, which, making him one of the 

 greatest of workers, enabled him to accomplish very 

 much, even for a lifetime of close upon eightv-three 

 years. His was a restless mind, constantly seizing- 

 upon fresh subjects for research, and the result of this 

 may be seen in the length of the list of publications 

 associated with his name in the Roval Society's cata- 

 logue. It may be, indeed, that this very quality, b^ 

 distributing his energies, was an obstacle to achieve- 

 ments of still greater importance which might have 

 ensued upon the concentration of an intellect com- 

 bining so much ingenuity and so great a capacity for 

 work. 



_ He was strongly impressed with the necessity for 

 State endowment of scientific research, and was partly 

 instrumental in procuring for the Roval Society the 

 (iovernment grant of 4000/. a year for'this purpose. 



In addition to his contributions to learned societies, 

 he published a text-book on " The Art of Electro- 

 metallurgy," and a volume on "The Electrolytic 

 Separation of Aletals " ; he also wrote a treatise on 

 " The .Art of Scientific Discovery." His mind always 

 had a bent for philosophy, whicli expressed itself more 

 especially in his later years. He was an unswerving 

 materialist, and his views may be gathered from his 

 recently published work on "The Scientific Basis of 

 Morality." G. A. S. 



PROF. J. M. PERNTER. 

 AS announced with deep regret last week, the 

 -'*■ death of Hofrat Prof. Josef Maria Pernter 

 took place after a long illness at -Arco, South Tyrol, 

 on December 20. From 1847 ""*'■ compelled in the 

 early part of last year to abandon his work, Pernter 

 was professor of meteorology and geodynamics in the 

 University of Vienna, and director of the Austrian 

 N'O. 2045, VOL. 79] 



Zentralanstalt for those sciences. The institute i •. 

 situated in the Hohe Warte, about three miles from 

 the centre of the city of Vienna. 



He was born on March 15, 1848, in Neumarkt, 

 Tyrol. In 1S64 he entered the novitiate of the Society 

 o( Jesus, and became successively professor of 

 philosophy at Presburg, professor of physics and 

 mathematics at Kal6csd, Hungary, and at Kalks- 

 burg. He left the society in 1877, and in 1882 became 

 an assistant in the Central Aleteorological Institute 

 of Vienna. In 1890 he was made professor of 

 cosmical physics in Innsbruck, but returned to 

 Vienna as director and professor upon the retirement 

 of Hann. Throughout his life he was a sincere 

 churchman, and occupied a position of great influence 

 among Catholic university students. 



His best known work is his " Meteorological 

 Optics," an admirable rmd exhaustive treatise the 

 publication of which is not yet completed. .And apart 

 from his otiflcial work as director of the Austrian 

 Meteorolog'ical .Service, there are many valuable 

 papers by him on various branches of meteorology 

 to be found in meteorological journals or in the 

 publications of the N'ienna .Academy, of which he was 

 a corresponding member. His friends will probably 

 remember him best as a controversialist of the best 

 kind. Himself full of vigour, energy and " Geist," 

 he possessed the power of putting his ideas with 

 perfect fairness into the most lucid and vigorous 

 language, both in conversation and in print. His 

 contributions to the discussion of the question of the 

 cannonade against hail concluded with a masterly 

 summary in " Das ende des \\'etterschiesscn's " in the 

 Meteorologischc Zeilschrift of 1907. 



He was an active member of the International 

 Meteorological Committee, and presided over the con- 

 ference of directors of meteorological institutes and 

 observatories at Innsbruck in 1905. His work, both 

 oflicial and unofficial, was characterised by great 

 thoroughness and vivacity. 



In recent years he suffered most poignant family 

 bereavement. He lost his young daughter in 1904 

 and his wife in 1906, and from these losses he never 

 recovered. He leaves an only son, who is still of 

 student age. 



NOTES. 



M. P. ViLLARD has been elected a member of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, in the section of physics, in suc- 

 cession to the late M. Mascart. 



Prof. A. BCnr.M,, of the Ecole sup^rieure de Pharmacie 

 of Paris, has resigned the general secretaryship of the 

 Paris Chemical Society. He will be succeeded by M. 

 Freundlcr, of the faculty of science in the University of 

 Paris. 



Mr. Artuur H. Smitu has been appoinli-d keeper of 

 the department of Greek and Roman antiquities in the 

 British Museum, in succession to Mr. Cecil H. Smith, who 

 was recently appointed director of the Victoria and .Albert 

 Museum. 



.At the initiative of the .\ssociation internationale de 

 rinstitut Marcy, a subscription list has been opened for 

 the erection of a monument to the late M. E. J. Marey. 

 We learn from La Nature that donations may be sent to 

 M. Carvallo, at the Institut Marey, Pare des Princes, 

 Boulogne-sur-Seine. A committee of management has 

 been formed, with M. Chauveau as chairman. 



Dr. H. \V. Wiley, the chief of the bureau of chemistry 

 in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is directing atten- 



