400 

having very fine private collections of Japanese 
metalwork, Oriental and English pottery, precious 
stones, and Italian and Oriental embroideries. 
This interest in art led him to take up the study 
of precious stones, on which he was a recognised 
authority, and on which he wrote a standard work, 
besides publishing valuable books on English 
earthenware and English porcelain. 
Sir Arthur Church will, however, probably best 
be remembered by his work on the subject of 
artists’ pigments. In connection with the Royal 
Academy of Arts there is an appointment—the 
only one of its kind in Europe—of a professor of 
chemistry, whose duty it is to deliver certain 
lectures to the art students in training. Sir 
Arthur Church was appointed to this professor- 
ship in 1879, and held the post until r911, when 
he decided to retire. His professorship at the 
Royal Academy brought him into close connection 
with the many chemical problems involved in 
painting, and led to his carrying out a large 
number of investigations, the results of which are 
summed up in his book on “The Chemistry of 
Paints and Painting,” which has passed through 
several editions. This book, which is the standard 
work on the subject, contains—very often in a 
few lines—the results of long and careful inquiry 
and research, and has done a great deal to redeem 
the artist from the unfortunate position in which 
he was placed by the dying out of the old studio 
traditions, and by the flood of pigments and 
preparations which were due to modern chemistry, 
and were somewhat recklessly introduced into the 
artist’s palette. 
These researches naturally led Sir Arthur 
Church to make a special study of the old 
masters and their methods, and he was also 
asked to inquire into the condition of the frescoes 
in the Houses of Parliament, and report on the 
preservation of the decaying stone in West- 
minster Abbey. For many years he worked at 
these problems as a labour of love, either with 
his own hand, or under his personal direction, 
restoring and preserving the frescoes, and carrying 
out special researches with the view of stopping 
stone decay in such national monuments as West- 
minster Abbey. In all these problems his interest 
in artistic and archeological questions made him 
devote his special knowledge of chemistry to sub- 
jects which the ordinary chemist seldom regards 
as of sufficient interest to attract his attention. 
Of late years he prepared for the Royal 
Society a classified list of papers and letters in the 
Society’s archives, this classification being the 
result of much labour and research and of great 
value as a reference to the older work which was 
done in the early days. 
Sir Arthur Church will be missed by all men 
of science who knew him, and also by his many 
friends, on account of his personal charm and 
kindness and his wide culture, which touched 
upon so many subjects outside the realms of 
chemistry. 
IN Wey. Ie 
NO. 2380, VOL. 95] 
NATURE 


[JUNE 10, 1915 
NOTES. 
AmonG the recipients of honours conferred on the 
occasion of the celebration of the King’s birthday on 
June 3, we notice the following names of men of 
science and others associated with scientific work :— 
Knights—Mr. C. E. Fryer, Superintending Inspector 
of Fisheries Division of the Board of Agriculture and 
Fisheries since 1903; Mr. R. R. Gales, Indian Public 
Works Department, Engineer-in-Chief, Hardinge 
Bridge, Sara, Bengal; Dr. J. Mackenzie, F.R.S., 
lecturer on cardiac research at the London Hospital, 
and author of many works on the diseases of the 
heart; Dr. T. Muir, F.R.S., Superintendent-General 
of Education, Province of the Cape of Good Hope, 
Union of South Africa; Mr. W. Pearce, director of 
William Pearce and Sons (Limited) and Spencer, Chap- 
man, and Mensel (Limited), chemical manufacturers ; 
Mr. E. Rigg, since 1898 Superintendent of the Opera- 
tive Department of the Royal Mint; Dr. W. N. Shaw. 
F.R.S., director of the Meteorological Office since 1905 
and reader in meteorology in the University of London 
since 1907; Mr. W. Slingo, Engineer-in-Chief of the 
General Post Office. Knight Commander of the Most 
Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B.)—The Right 
Hon. Sir John Fletcher, Baron Moulton, F.R.S. 
Companions of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath 
(C.B.)—Surgeon-General T. M. Corker; Mr. E. H. 
Tennyson-d’Eyncourt, Director of Naval Construction, 
Admiralty; Mr. E. J. Cheney, Chief Agricultural 
Adviser, Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Knight 
Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St. 
Michael and St. George (K.C.M.G.)—Dr. W. Peter- 
son, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill Univer- 
sity, Montreal. Companions of the Most Distinguished 
Order of St. Michael and St. George (C.M.G.)—Mr. 
A. W. G. Bagshawe, Director of the Tropical Diseases 
Bureau; Dr. D. M. Gordon, Principal and Vice-Chan- 
cellor of Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. 
Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of 
the Indian Empire (K.C.1.E.)—Mr. W. Maxwell, 
Director-General of Posts and Telegraphs, India; 
Lieut.-Col. Percy Molesworth Sykes. Companions of 
the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (C.1.E.) 
—Mr. A. W. Lushington, Imperial Forest Service, 
Conservator of Forests, Northern Circle, Madras; Mr. 
G. P. Millet, Indian Forest Service, Senior Conserva- 
tor of Forests, Bombay Presidency; Lieut.-Col. 
C. H. D. Ryder, Deputy Superintendent of Survey of 
India. Companion of the Imperial Service Order 
(1.S.0.)—Rai Chuni Lal Basu Bahadur, First 
Assistant Chemical Examiner of the Government of 
India, Teacher of Physics and Chemistry, Campbell 
Medical School. 
WE regret to announce the death on June 5, in his 
sixty-eighth year, of Mr. F. H. Neville, F.R.S., late 
lecturer on physics and chemistry in Sidney Sussex 
College, Cambridge. 
On account of the unfavourable state of the finances 
of the country, due mostly to the European war, the 
Peruvian Government has, says Science, ordered the 
closing of the Museum of National History and 
Archzology at Lima. 
