206 



NATURE 



[January 2, 1902 



In later years another controversy arose as to the part 

 taken liy carbohydrates in the formation of animal fat. 

 Lawes and Gilbert had satisfied themselves by their 

 experiments on pigs that fat was imdoubtedly produced 

 from carbohydrates. The German physiologists doubted 

 this, and at one time Kothamsted and its followers stood 

 almost alone in their opinion. Now the tide has turned ; 

 the e.xperimental evidence for the formation of fat from 

 carbohydrates has become overwhelming, and it is even 

 believed by some that no fat is formed from the albu- 

 minoids of the food, but that all the fat stored up by the 

 animal is derived either from carbohydrates or from the 

 fat originally present in the food. The question is one 

 of very great practical importance, the German school 

 formerly insisting that nitrogenous foods must be 

 selected for economic fattening, while the English teaching 

 gave the farmer a much wider choice. 



The scope, de\elopment and results of the Kotham.sted 

 experiments, and the numerous honours jointly conferred 

 on Lawes and Gilbert, have been so recently noticed when 

 speaking of the work accomplished by Sir John Lawes 

 that a repetition of them here seems hardly necessary. 

 Sir J. H. Gilbert was at his death the oldest surviving 

 Fellow of the Chemical Society, having been elected in 

 1841. He became president of the Society in 1882-3. 

 He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in i860, 

 he served on the Council, and was a regular attendant 

 at the meetings of the Society. With Sir John Lawes he 

 received a Royal medal in 1867. He became a Fellow 

 of the Linnean Society in 1875. He was president of 

 the Chemical Section of the British .Association in 1880. . 

 He was elected professor of rural economy at Oxford in 

 1884 and held the office till i8go ; the subjects chosen 

 for his lectures were the results of the Kothamsted 

 investigations. He received honorary degrees from 

 several Universities, and was a member of various 

 foreign academies and societies. On the occasion of the 

 jubilee of the Kothamsted experiments in 1893 ^^ ^^^s 

 presented with a piece of plate, and afterwards received 

 the honour of knighthood. 



Sir J. H. Gilbert carefully maintained through life a 

 connection with foreign workers. His holidays were 

 frequently occupied by visits to scientific meetings and 

 institutions in Germany and France. He made three 

 visits to the United States and Canada, and delivered 

 several lectures there. He enjoyed a very vigorous consti- 

 tution, and continued actively at work up to the last year 

 of his life. Unfortunately, his disposition forbade his co- 

 operation with any younger colleague, and the institution 

 at Kothamsted is now left without any apparent successor 

 to its historic labours. 



The funeral of Sir J. H. Gilbert took place at Harpen- 

 den on December 27 ; deputations from various scientific 

 bodies attended. The Lawes Agricultural Trust was 

 represented by Sir Chas. I>. Lawes, Sir John Evans, 

 F.R.S., Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S., Prof H. E. Arm- 

 strong, F.R.S., Dr. J. A. \'oelcker and Mr. H. Rix ; 

 the Board of Agriculture by Mr. T. H. Elliot ; the Royal 

 Society by Mr. A. B. Kempe, F.K.S. ; the Chemical 

 Society by Prof. \V. A. Tilden, F.R.S., and Prof W. R. 

 Dunstan, F.R.S. ; the Linnean Society by Prof. G. B. 

 Howes, F.R.S. ; the Meteorological Society by Mr. F. C. 

 Bayard ; the Society of Chemical Industry by Mr. A. 

 Smetham. 



NOTES. 

 Prof. W. A. Heroman, F.R.S., sailed for Ceylon on 

 December 26, igoi, to undertake for the Government an investi- 

 gation of thepeati oyster fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar. He 

 is accompanied by a first-rate assistant, and in Ceylon the 

 inspector of the fisheries and his staff will cooperate and provide 

 NO. 1679, VOL. 65] 



boats and divers. A suitable steamer for dredging and traA-ling 

 will he placed at Prof. I lerdman's disposal by the Government of 

 Ceylon ; and the necessary gear and apparatus for collecting and 

 observational work, and for biological experiments, have been 

 sent out in advance. We understand that Prof flerdman has 

 arranged to take samples of the plankton throughout the voyage 

 to Ceylon, and to launch current-floats at particular parts of 

 the course. 



A riJBi.ic meeting was held on Friday last at Cromarty, the 

 birthplace of Hugh Miller, for the purpose of discussing what 

 steps should be taken to celebrate next year the centenary of 

 his birth. Sir Archibald (ieikie wrote staling that he heartily 

 sympathised with the object of the meeting and wished all 

 success to the movement which it would initiate. After dis- 

 cussion, a committee was appointed to further a scheme for the 

 erection in Cromarty of a Miller Institute, comprising a library 

 and museum. 



It is proposed to commemorate, on June 15 next, the two 

 hundredth anniversary of the death of G. E. Rumphius, the 

 celebrated naturalist who spent his life in investigation at 

 Amboina, one of the Molucca Islands. The authorities of the 

 Colonial Museum at Haarlem have made arrangements for the 

 preparation of a Rumphius medal, copies of which can be 

 obtained in silver or bronze. Subscribers for the commemora- 

 tive medals who send their names to the president or secretary 

 of the Haarlem Museum before March I will receive a copy 

 of a memorial volume to be published in honour of Rumphius. 



The death is announced of Mr. H. G. Madan, senior Fellow 

 of (^)ueen's College, Oxford, and for twenty years head of the 

 science department at Eton College. 



We learn from Science that Mr. Alexander Agassir, accom- 

 panied by Mr. W. McM. Woodworth, has undertaken an 

 expedition to the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean, in order 

 to study the coral formations. A steamboat for this purpose has 

 been chartered at Ceylon. 



Dr. Svbn Hedin, the Swedish explorer, who recently 

 arrived at Ladakh from Central Asia, has sent a telegram to 

 King Oscar announcing that he has made an extremely impor- 

 tant journey through all Tibet, disguised as a pilgrim, with two 

 followers. On approaching Lha.sa they were recognised and 

 captured, but were well treated by order of the Dalai Lama. 

 A second attempt was opposed by 500 Tibetan soldiers. Dr. 

 Hedin's collections were lost, with almost the whole caravan, 

 but his notes were saved. 



The Board of .-Vgriculture has appointed a committee to 

 investigate the two diseases of sheep known as " braxy " and 

 " louping-ill." The members of the committee are Prof. 

 Hamilton, of -Vberdeen University, Mr. J. McI. McCall, 

 assistant veterinary officer to the Board, Mr. E. J. Wheler, 

 agent to the Duke of Northumberland, with Mr. R. B. Greig, 

 lecturer on agriculture, &c., to the Durham College of Science 

 at Newcastleon-Tyne, as secretary and demonstrator. The 

 mortality from the diseases in question is a cause of very great 

 loss to the sheep-farming industry in Scotland, probably 

 amounting to between a quarter and half a million of money 

 annually, or even more. * 



Dr. Hans Reusch, Director of the Geological Survey of 

 Norway, directs attention, in a recent issue of Naturen, to the 

 fact that the rock at Moskogaissa mine, 750 m. above the sea, 

 in Lyngen, Arctic Norway, is covered with a frozen moraine 

 from 18 to 20 metres thick. On a previous occasion Dr. 



