—--~--_ ~~ = 
May 27, 1915] 
NATURE 349 



their application to the advancement of arts, manu- } Mr. Ricuarp Kerr, the genial and well-known lec- 
factures, and commerce. The Albert medal was 
founded in 1863 to commemorate the Prince Consort's 
presidency of the society, and is awarded “for distin- 
guished merit in promoting arts, manufactures, and 
commerce.” 
Dr. E. O. Hovey, of the American Museum of 
Natural History, has just returned from a_ three 
months’ expedition to the Lesser Antilles. The time 
was largely given to an examination of Mont Pelée, 
the Soufriére, and other volcanoes of this region. It 
is reported by Dr. Hovey that the activity of Mont 
Pelée has continually diminished since the great out- 
bursts of 1902-3. On the east or windward side 
vegetation has re-established itself up to the very 
summit, and even the forest is beginning to reassert 
itself. The rocks of the new cone are more or less 
thickly coated with moss. 
We announced last week the award, by Columbia 
University, of the Barnard gold medal to Prof. W. H. 
Bragg and his son, Mr. W. L. Bragg, for their 
researches in molecular physics and in the particular 
field of radio-activity. The Butler gold and _ silver 
medals have also been awarded. The gold medal is 
awarded every fifth year for the most distinguished 
contribution made during the preceding five-year 
period to philosophy or to educational theory, practice, 
or administration. The silver medal is awarded 
annually to that graduate of Columbia University 
who has, during the year preceding, shown the most 
competence in philosophy or in education theory, 
practice, or administration, or has during that time 
made the most contribution of any of these. The 
former has been awarded to the Hon. Bertrand 
Russell, lecturer and fellow of Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, for his contributions to logical theory. The 
silver medal has been awarded to Prof. E. P. Cubber- 
ley, of Leland Stanford Jr. University, for his con- 
tributions to educational administration. 
A SUGGESTION for the defence of our soldiers against 
poisonous gas in the present war is made by Dr. 
F. C. Coley, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in a letter to 
the Morning Post of May 25. He proposes the use, 
in the trenches near enough to the enemy to be in 
danger from such gases, of rotary fan-blowers worked 
by hand placed at about every three or four yards. 
The fan-blowers should be connected with pipes going 
through the base of the earthwork in front of the 
trench. If the number of blowers were equal to the 
number of gas cylinders used by the enemy, the 
blowers when vigorously worked would deliver a far 
greater volume of air than the volume of the poisonous 
gas, so that the gas would become much diluted, and 
with good respirators would be harmless to our men. 
We believe that experiments are being conducted at 
the front with the object of devising means to render 
the poisonous gases innocuous by spraying with 
water and in other ways. The former expedient 
would require only a supply of water in the trenches 
and a spraying apparatus, and it would seem to 
afford an effective means of protection. 
NO. 2378, VOL. 95] 

turer on astronomy, microscopy, and other scientific 
subjects, died on May 19, at sixty-five years of age, 
after suffering greatly from a complication of dis- 
orders. For the last two years he had shown signs of 
breaking down in health, partly owing to anxiety and the 
difficulty of getting and fulfilling a sufficient number of 
engagements to keep him fully employed. He leaves a 
widow and a family of four. About twenty years 
ago he was associated with such men as Huxley, Sir 
B. W. Richardson, and Lant Carpenter in the worl: 
of the Sunday Lecture Society, and he was well 
known at the leading literary and scientific institu- 
tions in London and the country as one of the most 
popular exponents of science. His pleasant and easy 
manner, with occasional gleams of Irish humour, 
made him welcome to his audiences. He was the 
author of many books and articles on the popular 
side of science, such as ‘“‘The Hidden Beauties of 
Nature,” ‘‘Nature, Curious and Beautiful,” and 
“Wireless Telegraphy Popularly Explained.” He had 
also two or three books ready for publication, but on 
account of the war he found it impossible to get them 
published. He was an artist of no mean merit, and 
drew the illustrations for his books and lantern-slides 
with his own hand. His ability was recognised by the 
Home Office, who employed him as a lecturer to 
H.M. Prisons. 
Ir is proposed to found a memorial in honour of 
the late Mr. E. T. Busk, who met his death in 
November last at Aldershot while flying his own 
stable aeroplane, owing to its destruction by fire, thus 
terminating a career already marked by fine achieve- 
ment and full of promise for the future. At Cam- 
bridge he took first class honours in the Mechanical 
Sciences Tripos, and was awarded the John Wim- 
bourne prize and a scholarship at King’s College. 
After passing some years as an engineer, he joined 
the staff of the Royal Aircraft Factory, where he 
devoted his time especially to the mathematics and 
dynamics of stable flight of the full-size aeroplane, to 
researches into the nature and cause of wind gusts, 
and to the uses of aircraft in warfare for offensive and 
defensive purposes. Besides this work, he was en- 
trusted with the general control of the chemical, 
metallurgical, and physical research and test work at 
the factory. The memorial -will consist of (1) a 
studentship to enable a student to carry on some re- 
search in aeronautics or a kindred subject, and (2) a 
lecture on some such subject to be given annually 
by the holder of the studentship or by some other 
lecturer, and to be published in the Aéronautical Journal. 
Subscriptions to the amount of about 2500l. have been 
received or promised, and further contributions will 
be gratefully acknowledged by Sir Edward H. Busk, 
11 Sussex Place, Regent’s Park, N.W., or the secre- 
tary of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, 11 
Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C. 
AccorDING to a “neutral” correspondent of the 
Times, the Germans are busy with the preparation of 
smoke bombs to be dropped from Zeppelins when the 
long-tallked-of air-raid on London takes places. We 
are told that an eye-witness saw the smoke cloud 
