34« 



NA TURE 



[February 13, 1902 



knowledge lies, I can assure you of my hearty sympathy with 

 that scientific study and research, which now, more than ever, 

 has become so important an essential in our national life." 



At the annual general meeting of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, to be held to-morrow, February 14, the Society's gold 

 medal will be presented to Prof. J. C. Kapteyn, of Oroningen, 

 Holland, for his work in connection with the Cape Photographic 

 Durchniusterung and his researches on stellar distribution ;\nd 

 parallax. The Jackson-Gwilt (bronze) medal and gift will be 

 presented to the Rev. Thos. U. Anderson, of Edinburgh, for 

 his discovery of Nova Aurigas and Nova Persei. 



The first afternoon meeting of the Chemical Society will be 

 held on Wednesday next (February 19) at 5.30 p.m. Among 

 the papers to be read are two on " Enzyme Action," by Prof. 

 Adrian Brown, of Birmingham, and by Dr. Horace Brown, 

 F.R.S., and Mr. Glendinning, and one entitled "The Union of 

 Hydrogen and Oxygen," by Mr. H. Brereton Baker. 



We learn from Science that the Johns Hopkins University 

 will celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary on February 21 and 22, 

 when President Remsen will be formally inaugurated. Dr. 

 D. C. Gilman, president emeritus, will deliver a commemorative 

 address on February 21, and President Remsen will give his 

 inaugural address on the following day. 



The fall of red dust described by Sir Edw. Fry in last week's 

 Nature (p. 317) appears to have been observed over a wide 

 area. Mr. F. H. Perry Coste sends us a cutting from the 

 Cornish Times of February 8, in which it is stated that remark- 

 able showers occurred over a large part of Cornwall during the 

 latter part of January, the rain holding in suspension a fine dust, 

 variously described as ranging from yellow or sandy-colour to 

 whitish or brick-red. At Liskeard the deposit is spoken of as 

 yellowy-red in colour ; at Menheniot it had the appearance of 

 brick-dust ; at Calstock the deposit left by the rain was like fine 

 yellow mud or sand ; while, among other places in this neigh- 

 bourhood, the dust attracted attention at Callington, Gunnislake 

 and Altarnun. 



The Toronto correspondent of the 7Vm« writes that the Cana- 

 dian Government regard with much satisfaction Mr. Marconi's 

 recent success in signalling across the Atlantic. We rather ques- 

 tion whether the results as yet obtained justify the hopes which 

 seem to have been raised for a speedy establishment of cheap tele- 

 graphic communication between Canada and the mother country. 

 More reasonable is the idea of utilising the system to its full in 

 order to assist navigation at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. 

 Canadian commerce, it is pointed out, will greatly depend in 

 the future on the development of the St. Lawrence route, 

 and there can be no question that navigation of the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence and the coast of Newfoundand would be much 

 aided by a system allowing for communication between ship 

 and ship and ship and shore. 



The Paris' correspondent of the Times announces the death, 

 at the age of seventy-two, of Mme. Clemence Royer, who first 

 became known to the French reading public by her translation, in 

 1862, of Darwin's " Origin of Species. " To this translation she 

 prefixed what is regarded as one of the most famous essays in con- 

 temporary French thought. She was the author of " Le Bien et la 

 Loi Morale" (1881) and of" La Constitution du Monde " (1900), 

 and numerous original memoirs on archarology and anthropology. 

 In 1S95, MM. Berthelot, Aulard, Th. Ribot, Ch. Richet, 

 Letourneau and Levasseur solicited for her the Cross of the 

 Legion of Honour, alluding to her thus: — " Savante et phil- 

 osophe d'une valeur rare c'est une des illustrations feminines de 

 ce siccle." This decoration was not given her, however, until 

 1900, when the Minister of Education, M. Leygues, ollicially 

 NO. 1685, VOL. 65] 



bestowed it at a banquet organised by Mme. Clemence Royer's 

 Breton compatriots. 



The death is announced of Mr. William Martindale, the 

 well-known pharmacist. From an account of his career in the 

 Pharmaceutical Journal we learn that Mr. Martindale was born 

 near Carlisle in 1840. In conjunction with Dr. W. Westcott he 

 produced the very successful work entitled " Extra Pharma- 

 copoeia," which is highly appreciated by both physicians and 

 pharmacists. For ten years (1873-1882) be was a member of 

 the Pharmaceutical Society's board of examiners for England 

 and Wales. In 1S89 he became a member of the Society's 

 council, in 1898 he was elected treasurer of the Society, and 

 the following year he became president. He was president of 

 the British Pharmaceutical Conference on two separate oc- 

 casions; he was also a member of the council of the Royal 

 Botanic Society, and interested himself in a scheme for the 

 improvement of botanical teaching in Londgn. In addition, 

 Mr. Martindale was a Fellow of the Chemical Society, the 

 Linnean Society, and a member of the Sanitary Institute and 

 the Society of Arts. His position as a prominent pharmacist 

 was recently indicated by his appointment as a member of the 

 Privy Council's poisons committee. 



A short account of the results of the census of 1901 in France 

 is given in La Geographic by V. Turquan. The population in 

 each department is compared with the returns of iSoi and 1896, 

 and the changes clearly shown by means of charts. It appears 

 that between 1S96 and 1901 tiventy-eight departments show an 

 increase averaging 25,200 each, if that of the Seine be included, 

 or l6,cx)0 if it be omitted, while fifty-nine departments show a 

 decrease averaging 6000 each, a result indicating the movement 

 of the rural population to the towns. The greatest per cent, 

 increase is around Paris, in the departments of Nord and Pasde 

 Calais, and along the shores of the Mediterranean ; and the 

 greatest decrease is in the basin of the Garonne, the department 

 of Lot heading the list with a decrease of 6'i per cent. 



Dr. H. Fritsche, director of the Pekin Observatory, has 

 published the results of his investigation of the daily period of 

 the elements of terrestrial magnetism, for the winter and 

 summer seasons, based upon Gauss's general theory, and the 

 hourly observations of twenty-seven places comprised between 

 latitudes 80° N. and 56° S. This is the fourth work by the 

 same author on the determination of the magnetic elements. 

 The observations used have been collected partly from original 

 publications and partly from those contained in the German 

 Mcteorologische Zeitschrift, The means are calculated from all 

 the observations, including days of magnetic disturbance. Dr. 

 Fritsche gives a detailed explanation of the formul.e employed. 



The current number of Knowledge contains an interesting 

 note by Sir Samuel Wilks, F. R.S., on the history of Fahren- 

 heit's thermometer, wliich, he states, owes its origin to the in- 

 vention of a thermometer by Newton, described in the 

 Philosophical Transactions for 1 701. Newton's instrument was 

 a tube filled with linseed oil, the starting-point being the tern 

 perature of the human body, which he called 12 (the 

 duodecimal system being then in use) ; he divided the space 

 between this and the freezing point into twelve parts, and 

 stated that the boiling point would be about 30°. Fahrenheit, 

 not finding the scale minute enough for his work in using 

 Newton's instrument, first divided each degree into two 

 parts and made it measure 24 -instead of 12. Finding he 

 could obtain a lower temperaiure than freezing by mixing ice and 

 salt, he took this for his starting point, and counted 24 degrees 

 up to body heat, making 8 freezing point and calling boiling 

 water 53. Later on he divided each degree into four parts ; it 

 will be seen that if the last-mentioned numbers are multiplied 

 by four, we have the thermometer which is now in use 



