Jan. 27, 1887] 



NA TURE 



305 



he endowed to the extent of 100,000/. He was twice 

 married— first, in 1S25, to Fanny, youngest daughter of 

 Mr. Richard Ankers; then, in 1S71, to Mary Louisa, 

 widow of Mr. .-Alfred Orrell. Notwithstanding his un- 

 wearied attention to business, he contrived to have some 

 leisure time, and he spent it very agreeably at bis estate 

 of Stancliffe, in Derbyshire, where he devoted himself to 

 landscape gardening. He also derived a great deal of 

 pleasure from his horses and his herd of short-horns. 

 For some time his health had been failing, and until 

 lately he went every winter to the Riviera. Two years 

 ago he made for himself at Stancliffe a winter garden, 

 hoping that he might thus be able to spend the winter at 

 home. Last year he went abroad again, and now, at the 

 age of eighty-three, his long and great career has come 

 to an end. The whole civilised world may be said to be 

 familiar with his name, and he will always be remem- 

 bered as the most illustrious English mechanician of 

 the present age. Few men of his time have done more 

 for the nation than Whitworth. His " Scholarships " have 

 had the most important influence upon the knowledge and 

 training of the rising generation of engineers. There are 

 now nearly 200 Whitworth Scholars throughout the land, 

 and they will doubtless be largely represented at his 

 funeral. 



NOTES 



Since our last week's number was issued, Prof. Huxley has 

 sent an important letter to the Times on the subject of the true 

 functions of the Imperial Institute. From this letter we make 

 the following extract : — " That with which I did intend to ex- 

 press my strong sympathy was the intention which I thought I 

 discerned, to establish something which should play the same 

 part in regard to the advancement of industrial knowledge which 

 has been played in regard to science and learning in general, in 

 these realms, by the Royal Society and the Universities. I 

 pictured the Imperial Institute to myself as a house of call for 

 all those who are concerned in the advancement of industry ; as 

 a place in which the home-keeping industrial could find out all 

 he wants to know about colonial industry and the colonist about 

 home industry ; as a sort of neutral ground on which the capitalist 

 and the artisan would be equally welcome ; as a centre of inter- 

 communication in which they might enter into friendly discussion 

 of the problems at issue between them, and, perchance, arrive 

 at a friendly solution of them. I imagined it a place in which 

 the fullest stores of industrial knowledge would be made acces- 

 sible to the public ; in which the higher questions of commerce 

 and industry would be systematically studied and elucidated ; 

 and where, as in an industrial University, the whole technical 

 education of the country might find its centre and crown. If I 

 earnestly desire to see such an institution created, it is not because 

 I think that or anything else will put an end to pauperism and 

 want — as somebody has absurdly suggested — but because I believe 

 it will supply a foundation for that scientific organisation of our 

 industries which the changed conditions of the times render in- 

 dispensable to their prosperity. I do not think I am far wrong 

 in assuming that we are entering, indeed have already entered, 

 upon the most serious struggle for existence to which this country 

 has ever been committed. The latter years of the century promise 

 to see us embarked in an industrial war of far more serious im- 

 port than the military wars of its opening years. On the east, 

 the most systematically instructed and best informed people in 

 Europe are our competitors ; on the west, an energetic offshoot 

 of our own stock, grown bigger than its parent, enters upon the 

 struggle possessed of natural resources to which we can make no 

 pretension, and with every prospect of soon possessing that cheap 

 labour by which they may be effectually utilised. Many circum- 

 stances tend to justify the hope that we may hold our own if we 

 are careful to 'organise victory.' But, to those who reflect 



seriously on the prospects of the population of Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire — should the time ever arrive when the goods which are 

 produced by their labour and their skill are to be had cheaper 

 elsewhere — to those who remember the cotton famine and reflect 

 how much worse a customer famine would be, the situation 

 appears very grave. I thought — I still think — that it was the in- 

 tention of the Prince of Wales and his advisers, recognising the 

 existence of these dangers ahead, to make a serious effort to 

 meet them, and it was in that belief that I supported the proposed 

 Institute." We are glad to see that in the pamphlet which is 

 now being circulated by the organisers of the Imperial Institute 

 it is acknowledged that in this communication Prof. Huxley 

 " has clearly defined the functions of the Imperial Institute as 

 recognised by the propounders of the scheme." 



The Royal Society of New South Wales offers its medal and 

 a prize of 25/. for the best communication (provided it be of 

 suBicieut merit) containing the results of original research or 

 observation upon any one of a list of subjects which it has pub- 

 lished. Communications on the following subjects must be sent 

 in not later than May i next : — On the silver ore deposits 

 of New South Wales ; origin and mode of occurrence of gold- 

 bearing veins and of the associated minerals ; influence of the 

 Australian climate in producing modifications of diseases ; and 

 on the Infusoria peculiar to .\ustralia. A year later the Society 

 will receive papers on the anatomy and life-history of the Echidna 

 and Platypus ; the anatomy and life-history of MoUusca peculiar 

 to Australia ; and the chemical composition of the products from 

 the so-called kerosene shale of New South Wales. The subjects 

 on which communications must be sent in not later than May I, 

 18S9, are : — On the chemistry of the Australian gums and resins ; 

 on the aborigines of Australia ; on the iron ore deposits of New 

 South Wales ; list of the marine fauna of Port Jackson, with 

 descriptive notes as to habits, distribution, &c. The competition 

 is open to all without any restriction whatever, excepting that a 

 prize will not be awarded to a Member of the Council for the 

 time being ; neither wiU an award be made for a mere compila- 

 tion, however meritorious in its way. The communication to be 

 successful must be either wholly or in part the result of original 

 observation or research on the part of the contributor. 



The Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et ITndustrie is 

 organising an expedition, composed of geologists and others, for 

 the exploration of the Upper Congo and its tributaries. 



We regret to announce the death of Mr. Edward Livingstone 

 Youmans, a well-known American writer on science. Mr. 

 Youmans was born in New York in 1821, and though suffering 

 much from defective vision, prosecuted from his early youth the 

 study of science. He became well known as a public lecturer. 

 He planned the "International Scientific Series" in 1871, in 

 connection with which he made several visits to Europe. In 

 1872 he established the Popular Science Monthly in New York. 

 Mr. Youmans died on Thursday last, January 20. 



It is sometimes said that intellectually Scotland does not stand 

 on so high a level as in former times. This may be true so far 

 as literature is concerned, but it is certainly not true with regard 

 to science. At a recent meeting of the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh Mr. John Murray, of the Challenger, one of the Vice- 

 Presidents, declared that he questioned whether any country in 

 the world, taking its size into consideration, could show a better 

 record of scientific work or a greater mass of scientific literature 

 than Scotland during the past ten or twenty years. In making 

 this statement Mr. Murray's object was not to glorify his own 

 country but to show that its scientific establishments have a solid 

 claim to better treatment than they have hitherto received at the 

 hands of the Government. Money grants, he stated, of consider- 

 able annual value are devoted to the maintenance of learned 

 Societies in London and Dublin. In Scotland, according to Mr. 



