JuLy 29, 1915] 

NATURE 
597, 

“Pror. A. ARNAUD, whose death will be deplored by 
chemists and pharmacologists, had made a _ world- 
wide reputation by his researches on ouabain, stroph- 
anthin, digitalin, cupreine, ete. For nearly a quarter 
of a century Prof. Arnaud occupied the chair of chem- 
istry at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, 
and the numerous researches that he published have 
made his name familiar to the chemists and phar- 
macologists of all countries. By his death science has 
lost one of its most able exponents. 
Ir is with regret that we record the death of F. P. J. 
Guéguen, late professor of botany in the School of 
Agriculture at Grignon. Prof. Guéguen was born at 
Loudéac, in Brittany, in 1872, and, having trained 
at the Ecole Supérieure de Pharmacie, became a 
hospital pharmacist in 1895. In 1899 he gained the 
title of doctor of pharmacy, his thesis being an account 
of researches on the mycelia present in pharmaceutical 
solutions. He afterwards devoted himself chiefly to 
cryptogamic botany, became assistant professor in the 
Ecole de Pharmacie in 1904, and for the last few years 
of his life occupied the chair of botany in the School 
of Agriculture at Grignon. Prof. Guéguen published 
numerous papers dealing chiefly with cryptogamic 
botany. 
Tne death of Sir James Murray, on July 26, removes 
a well-known figure from Oxford society. For more 
than thirty years his face and form had been among 
the most familiar sights in the University. His cour- 
teous manners and address, and his air of grave dis- 
tinction, attracted the notice even of strangers, but to 
those who knew him intimately he was one. of the 
most delightful of associates. Learned, but no pedant, 
keenly interested in all departments of mental activity, 
possessed of a wide acquaintance with science and 
literature, and equipped with knowledge, probably un- 
equalled, of his own special branch of inquiry, he was 
always ready to impart information from the immense 
stores of his erudition. He had the gift of interesting 
others in his own subject without forcing it upon them 
or wearying them with over-minute details. His 
enthusiasm in his great work of the New English 
Dictionary, though evident to all who knew him, was 
held within due bounds by a plentiful endowment of 
common sense and a certain good-humoured shrewd- 
ness of nature, which was no doubt attributable to his 
northern origin. His conscientiousness was extreme. 
He spared no pains in ensuring the utmost accuracy 
of definition for the technical terms in the dictionary, 
taking every opportunity of consulting those best 
qualified to advise on such subjects. But he was no 
mere compiler, and his own mathematical and scien- 
tific knowledge was employed with excellent results. 
Though in his bearing the pink of courtesy, he could 
be trenchant in literary or philological criticism. 
Amusing stories have been current of the way in which 
some of his comments on other lexicographers have 
been toned down for publication by his ~ assistants. 
His death at the age of seventy-eight has disappointed 
the ‘hopes of those who looked forward to see him 
finish the great work now so near completion. 
NO. 2387, VOL. 95] 



By the death of Dr. Alexander Stewart, principal 
of St. Mary’s College, St. Andrews, which occurred 
somewhat suddenly on July 21, science has lost a 
genial friend and supporter, who, throughout his 
twenty-one years of office as principal, was ever ready 
in a quiet and judicious way to_champion her cause. 
As an old and distinguished student of St. Andrews, 
for he was first bursar in 1864, and, later, Lord 
Rector’s prizeman, and a graduate of the University, 
he took a deep interest in all the modern develop- 
ments of the museum, the marine laboratory, and the 
lectureships of botany and geology, the latter specially 
owing much to his fostering care. Moreover, though 
he did not, like his talented predecessor, Dr. John 
Cunningham, profess to study divinity scientifically, 
yet he took a broad and modern view of his subject, 
and by his erudition, fine voice, and great lucidity of 
expression, was ever a popular lecturer.and preacher. 
His first appointment was to the parish of Mains and 
Strathmartine, near Dundee; his second to the chair 
of systematic theology in Aberdeen University; and his 
third to the principalship of St. Mary’s College, St. 
Andrews. He was moderator of the General Assembly 
of the Church of Scotland in 1911, the year in which the 
five hundredth anniversary of his own University was 
celebrated, but after installation in the moderatorship 
he caught a chill, so that he was only able to appear 
on the closing day. He exerted himself, however, 
to fulfil all the other onerous duties during his year 
of office. In his early days he was an active gymnast 
and student-president of the University Club, in the 
welfare of which, as in that of the old University 
Battery and modern O.T.C., he took a deep interest 
to the last. As a colleague he gained the esteem 
of all from his straightforward, genial, and con- 
siderate character. His broad sympathies with science 
and his unselfish and modest bearing won for him 
the respect alike of colleague and student, as well as 
gave him a wide circle of scientific friends who mourn 
his loss. 
In the article upon ‘“‘The Evolution of the sGonio- 
meter,”’ which appeared in Nature of July 22, it was 
no part of the historical sketch to give a systematic 
list of the instrument-makers who had constructed the 
several types, but since, as Mr. Conrad Beck has 
pointed out to us, it might appear as if British instru- 
ment-makers had not borne their share, we thinls it 
right to remove any such misapprehension. Messrs. 
Troughton and Simms have constructed many fine 
instruments for, among others, Sir Henry Miers, Dr. 
A. E. H. Tutton, and the British Museum, and Dr. 
Hutchinson’s universal goniometer, which was de- 
scribed and illustrated in the article, is made by 
Messrs. James Swift and Son, who kindly lent the 
block to illustrate the article. In the goniometer, as 
in all classes of instruments, British manufacurers 
stand second to none in excellence of workmanship; 
it is no fault of theirs that owing to the comparative 
neglect of the study of crystallography in this country 
they have found so little demand for crystal-measuring 
apparatus. 
In continuation of the register published in Nature 
of July 15 and 22 we are informed that the following 
