3 i8 



NATURE 



[September 7, 191 1 



remark expresses the nature of the book. The author 

 is satisfied with seeing; she has made no new routes 

 and collected no new information, and some of her 

 statements, such as that the egg of the Kiwi is as 

 large as the adult bird, are untrustworthy; but she 

 will doubtless feel repaid if her book leads others to 

 visit Westland, and share her keen enjoyment of that 

 beautiful land. 



THE REV. F. J. JERVIS-SMITH, F.R.S. 



BY the death of the Rev. Frederick Jervis-Smith on 

 August 23, at sixty-three years of age, the world 

 of science has lost an original and acute thinker and 

 a man who had a genius for designing and construct- 

 ing instruments of delicacy and precision. Trained 

 as a mechanical engineer, he gave up the calling of 

 his choice, went to Oxford and entered the Church 

 for family reasons. The only son of the Rev. Preben- 

 dary Frederick Smith, of Taunton, he became the 

 patron of the living of St. John's, Taunton, and was 

 vicar for a few years. But he recognised that his real 

 gifts were for science, and he took his workshop to 

 Oxford, where he became Millard lecturer in experi- 

 mental mechanics at Trinity College. 



The teaching laboratory in Trinity fitted up by 

 Jervis-Smith was worked in connection with the 

 chemical laboratory in Balliol, and afterwards with 

 the laboratory in St. John's, fitted up by Bosanquet, 

 the three laboratories being close together. The pass- 

 age opened between Trinity and Balliol in 1879 was 

 known as "the scientific frontier." 



In the Millard Laboratory Jervis-Smith constructed 

 many of his well-known instruments, among which 

 special mention must be made of his electric chrono- 

 graph. Instead of the ordinary device of a heavy 

 pendulum or rod falling under the accelerating force 

 of gravity, Jervis-Smith made a carriage to run down 

 rails so inclined that the velocity became constant 

 after a certain travel. This carriage carried a smoked 

 surface on which electromagnetic styli made their 

 trace, as well as a vibrating tuning-fork. This uni- 

 formity of movement greatly simplified the conversion 

 of the distance between the marks of the styli into 

 time. The styli and the electromagnets were very 

 small, and the retardation of the release on breaking 

 the circuits was made by an ingenious system of wind- 

 ing the coils, both very small and nearly uniform. 



Jervis-Smith had intended to use his chronograph 

 in the investigation of the changes of velocity in the 

 propagation of the flame in the explosion of gases ; 

 and, indeed, he made several sets of experiments on 

 the propagation of the explosion of electrolytic gas 

 under pressure in steel pipes, but he returned to the 

 improvement of the instrument. Prof. H. B. Dixon 

 carried out all his later researches on the velocity of 

 the explosion-wave in gases with the help of electro- 

 magnetic styli constructed by Jervis-Smith. This 

 chronograph has been largely used for measuring the 

 flight of projectiles. Of his other instruments, the 

 besl known are the dynamometer and the integrator, 

 but many of his ideas have been adopted in other 

 measuring and recording- instruments. 



Jervis-Smith was endeared to his friends by his 

 simple character, his dry humour, and the kindness 

 : - heart. He would put himself to endless trouble 

 In help a friend in any experimental problem, and he 

 always managed to convey the idea that one was doing 

 him a service by asking for his help. His skill and 

 courage in saving life on the river at Oxford were 

 recognised by the award to him of the Royal Humane 

 Society's modal. He married Miss Annie Eyton 

 Taylor, and leaves her and one son to mourn his loss. 



NO. 2184, VOL. 87] 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT 

 PORTSMOUTH. 



'"PHE week's meeting of the British Association at 

 •*• Portsmouth has now drawn to a close, and 

 some general impressions of the gathering may not be 

 out of place. In the first place, the weather conditions 

 in Portsmouth, as in most other parts of the United 

 Kingdom, have been exceptional as regards absence of 

 rain and high thermometric readings. Only on one 

 day has rain fallen during the whole of the week, 

 which, speaking off-hand, has probably been a verv 

 rare occurrence even during the eighty odd years of 

 the association's existence. 



The attendance has been low, which is to be de- 

 plored, as on the whole the standard of the scientific 

 work has been high. The address of the president 

 (reported in full in our last number) was delivered is 

 the Town Hall. The attendance at the sections, whien 

 began their work on Thursday morning, was not 

 large, but the presidential addresses were of great in- 

 terest and value. The largest number of members 

 seems of recent years to be attracted to the sections 

 dealing with the subjects which come into everyday 

 life, and of which the " man in the street " is con- 

 scious. Thus in the economic and the education sec- 

 tions the speakers had fair audiences. Agriculture 

 (Sub-section K) also appealed to a good many mem- 

 bers. 



With the fine weather, naturally the garden-parties 

 were much appreciated, and on Saturday the all-day 

 excursions were practically all up to the limit as re- 

 gards numbers. One party was conducted over Good- 

 wood House, and entertained at tea by Mr. Hussey 

 Freke, the agent to the Duke of Richmond ; another 

 was the guest of the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel 

 Castle. Other excursions were in the Isle of Wight 

 and to the New Forest. It conduced much to the 

 pleasantness of each excursion that certain gentlemen 

 gave their local knowledge and services to act as 

 guides to the several parties. 



There were, as usual, two evening lectures — the 

 first, on "The Physiology of Submarine Work," by 

 Dr. Leonard Hill, attracting a fair audience; the 

 second was by Prof. A. C. Seward on " Links with 

 the Past in tlie Plant World." 



During the meeting various lectures of considerable 

 interest were arranged, and it seemed a pity that they 

 were not more widely advertised. Mr. F. Enock 

 lectured on " Fairy-flies," and Dr. Francis Darwin on 

 "The Balance-sheet of a Plant." 



There was a great demand for tickets for the naval 

 display on Monday afternoon, which gave the visitors 

 an insight into the mass of detail and training required 

 bv naval commanders of the present day. The party 

 was taken on board the battleship Revenge, and 

 watched an attack by torpedo-boat destroyers and four 

 or five submarines specially told off for the occasion. 



Most sections finished their work on Tuesday, but a 

 few energetic ones had material to keep them going 

 until Wednesday. 



The meeting next year is to be held at Dundee, 

 beginning on September 4, and the president 

 will be Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S. The invita- 

 tion of tlie City and University of Birmingham to 

 meel there in 1913 was unanimously accepted at the 

 council meeting <>n September 1. The council also 

 resolved by a majority to recommend that agriculture 

 be constituted a separate section of the association, 

 and thi- recommendation has been adopted by the 

 General Committee and the Committee of Recommen- 

 dations, so that there will be twelve sections in future, 

 agriculture being Section M. 



