
AucusT 5, 1915] 

NATURE 
623 

Mr. White and the donors of the original endowment 
of the garden. Plans are now being prepared for the 
completion of the buildings, only one-fifth of which 
has been erected. 
Tue death is announced on July 23 of Dr. Edmund 
Owen, consulting surgeon to St. Mary’s and other 
hospitals. He was also surgeon-in-chief to the St. 
John Ambulance Brigade. Dr. Owen was in 1867 
appointed demonstrator and in 1876 lecturer in 
anatomy at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School. In 
addition to numerous more technical works, he pub- 
lished in 1890 a ‘‘Manual of Anatomy for Senior 
Students.’’ The article on ‘‘Surgery”’ in the current 
edition of the ‘“‘ Encyclopaedia Britannica’? was from 
his pen. He was a member of the council of the 
Royal College of Surgeons for sixteen years, and a 
vice-president of the college. He became a member 
of the British Medical Association early in his career, 
and in 1883 he was secretary of the Section of Surgery 
at the Liverpool meeting, from which date he took 
an increasingly important part in its affairs. In 1906 
he delivered the Bradshaw lecture on cancer, and in 
1g1t the Hunterian oration. 
Tue following additional lists have reached us of 
members of scientific staffs on active service with 
H.M. Forces :—Dusiin: Geological Survey of Ire- 
land :—T. Haigh, professional assistant (chemist and 
soil analyst), Sergt. 7th Batt. Royal Dublin Fusiliers; 
H. T. Kennedy, geologist, Lieut. Royal Scots Fusi- 
liers; R. L. Valentine, geologist, Lieut. 8th Batt. 
Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Lonpon: Geological Sur- 
vey:—C. H. Cunnington, geologist, 2nd Lieut.; 
R. J. A. Eckford, fossil collector, Lance-Corpl. ; 
R. du B. Evans, geologist, 2nd Lieut. (wounded and 
prisoner); P. A. Frisby, assistant clerk, Sergt.; D. Hal- 
dane, fossil coilector, Sergt.; W. B. R. King, geologist, 
Lieut.; R. W. Pocock, geologist, 2nd Lieut.; H. H. 
Read, geologist, private; J. E. Richey, geologist, 2nd 
Lieut.; A. P. Stewart, general assistant, private; 
T. H. Whitehead, geologist, Lieut—Dr. E. N. da C. 
Andrade, who held a John Harling fellowship in the 
University of Manchester at the outbreak of war, and 
was engaged in physical researches, though not on 
the teaching staff, is a 2nd Lieut. in the Royal Gar- 
rison Artillery. 
IN response to the circular letter referring to offers 
of service connected with the war, sent to fellows of 
the Chemical Society on July 1 (see Nature, July 8, 
p- 523) more than goo forms have been received, 
together with many letters and suggestions. In that 
letter it was stated that in dealing with these replies 
the council would have the assistance of special com- 
mittees, each of which would be formed by a kindred 
society. The following societies are co-operating :— 
Royal Agricultural Society, Biochemical Society, 
Society of Chemical Industry, Society of Dyers and 
Colourists, Faraday Society, Institute of Chemistry, 
Institute of Metals, Institution of Mining and 
Metallurgy, Pharmaceutical Society, Physical Society, 
Society of Public Analysts. Each of these 
societies will nominate six experts who, together 
with two members of the council of the Chem- 
NO. 2388, VOL. 95] 


ical Society, will form a committee to con- 
sider and report on matters referred to it by the 
council. In addition to these special committees, a 
general committee is in course of formation which 
will consist of about twenty members, two being 
nominated by each of the co-operating societies. The 
function of this general committee will be to deliberate 
on all questions of general policy with reference, not 
merely to questions directly relating to the war, but 
also to all matters on which it is desirable to have 
the opinion of a body thoroughly representative of 
every department of chemical science. 
In the course of a statement on the work of the 
Ministry of Munitions, made in the House of Com- 
mons on July 28, Mr. Lloyd George said :—‘I have 
just completed arrangements to constitute an Inven- 
tions Branch of the Ministry of Munitions, and I hope 
it will do for inventions for land warfare what Lord 
Fisher’s Board is doing for naval warfare. The War 
Office is handing over the whole question of Army 
inventions to the Minister of Munitions, and careful 
arrangements are being made to secure that the new 
branch will keep in close touch both with Lord 
Fisher’s to avoid duplication and overlapping, and 
also with War Office experts and Army authorities, 
who must, of course, have an ultimate voice in decid- 
ing whether a particular invention is of practical ser- 
vice to the conditions of actual warfare in the present 
campaign. I have appointed Mr. C. W. Moir, a dis- 
tinguished engineer, who has already given valuable 
assistance to my Department on a voluntary basis, 
to take charge of the new branch, and he will not 
only have an expert staff to deal with any project 
that may reach him, but also a panel of scientific 
consultants to assist on technical and scientific points. 
I think to save disappointment I ought to say that it 
ought to be clearly understood that only a very small 
minority of inventions are of practical value, especially 
under the stringent conditions of modern warfare. 
Many projects fail from technical defects, many others, 
although technically perfect, are unsuitable for the 
practical conditions of war. The new branch will 
have justified its existence if one project in a hundred, 
or even one in a thousand, turns out to be of practical 
utility in the present emergency.” 
ScIENCE in Oxford has suffered a further loss by the 
death of Dr. A. J. Herbertson, of Wadham College, 
professor of andreader in geography. A native of Scot- 
land, Prof. Herbertson prepared himself for his scien- 
tific career by a course of study in Germany, where 
he graduated as Ph.D. of the University of Freiburg. 
Appointed reader at Oxford in 1905 and professor in 
1910, he was enabled by the liberality of the Royal 
Geographical Society, and with the support of the 
University, to establish and equip a department re- 
presenting not unworthily a branch of natural know- 
ledge which it must be confessed had up to ten years 
ago received scant recognition in Oxford. It is not 
too much to say that to the zeal and energy of the late 
professor is mainly due the flourishing condition of 
the school of geography now housed in the well- 
known building which was for so long the abode of 
the late Sir Henry Acland. He spared no effort in 
