3^4 



NATURE 



[May 29, 1913 



old students for subscriptions towards a new chair 

 on the mathematical side of natural phildsophy, 

 to be called the "Tait Chair." 



Prof. MacGregor's original contributions to 

 scientific literature other than those already in- 

 dicated ate mainly concerned with electrical con- 

 duction, ionisation, densities, and freezing-point 

 depressions of solutions. These are published 

 chiefly in the Transactions and Proceedings of the 

 Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, and in the Philosophical Magazine. 

 He also wrote interesting addresses on educa- 

 tional subjects of a more general nature, and a 

 few years ago published for the use of the students 

 a pamphlet on physical laws and observations. 



Prof. MacGregor was an enthusiastic teacher, 

 and spared neither time nor trouble for the sake 

 of his students. His accessibility endeared him to 

 all. Busy though he was at all times, he was 

 ever ready to lay aside his personal work, how- 

 ever pressing, so as to discuss any difficulties his 

 students might have. His was a sunny, genial 

 nature, finding pleasure in ministering to the needs 

 of others; and there was no trouble too great 

 which he would not take on behalf of his friends. 



C. G. Knott. 



NOTES. 



We regret deeply to announce that Lord Avebury 

 died on May 28, at seventy-nine years of age. 



The annual visitation of the Royal Observatory, 

 Greenwich, will be held on Saturday, June 7. 



The Croonian lecture of the Royal Society will be 

 delivered by Dr. Robert Broom on Thursday, June 5; 

 the subject will be "The Origin of Mammals." 



We learn from the Revue Scientifique that the 

 mathematical works of the late Henri Poincare are to 

 be published by the firm of Gauthier-Villars, under the 

 auspices of the Minister of Public Instruction and 

 the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



At the meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society 

 on Wednesday, May 21, Dr. V. F. K. Bjerknes, pro- 

 fessor of geophysics in the University of Leipzig, and 

 Dr. Hugo Hergesell, president of the International 

 Commission for Scientific Aeronautics, Strassburg, 

 were elected honorary members of the society. 



The American Association for the Advancement of 

 Research by Women has awarded the Ellen Richards 

 prize of 1000 dollars to Dr. Ida Smedley (Mrs. Mac- 

 Lean) for her work on the biochemical synthesis of 

 fatty acids. The prize is offered biennially, and was 

 last awarded in 1909, when the successful candidate 

 was also an Englishwoman, Dr. Florence Buchanan. 



The fourth International Congress for the Hygiene 

 and Salubrity of Dwellings is to be held at Antwerp 

 on August 31-September 7. The congress will be 

 divided into four sections : the hygiene of emigrants, 

 colonial hygiene, hygiene of ports and ships, and the 

 development of towns from the hygienic point of view. 

 Persons desiring to take part in the congress should 

 communicate with the treasurer, Mr. A. Cols, notary, 

 Willem Tell Street, 3, Antwerp. 

 NO. 22/4, VOL. 91] 



The president of the Royal Society has received 

 from the Portuguese Legation subscriptions amount- 

 ing to 21L 5s. forwarded by the Society of Medical 

 Science of Lisbon as a donation to the Lister Memo- 

 rial Fund. A sum of 867 dollars has been collected 

 by Dr. W. W. Keen, of Philadelphia. Further dona- 

 tions intimated from foreign countries include : — 

 University of Paris, 500 francs; University of Lyons, 

 100 francs.; Society de Chirurgie of Lyons, 100 francs ; 

 faculty of medicine of the University of Munich, 100 

 marks ; faculty of medicine of the University of Bres- 

 lau, no marks; and Stockholm Medico-Chirurgical 

 Society, 5/. A donation of 10I. has been received 

 from the University of Calcutta. 



We are glad to be assured by Prof. Sampson, 

 Astronomer Royal for Scotland, that the damage to 

 instruments due to the explosion of a Suffragette 

 bomb at the Roval Observatory, Edinburgh, on May 

 21, was happilv insignificant. The bomb was placed 

 on the floor below that of the west dome. The floor 

 of the west dome is a heavy one, and thoroughly 

 protected the 24-in. reflector and Cooke photovisual 

 above it. The driving clock for these telescopes was 

 near the bomb, but appears uninjured except in re- 

 spect to its glass case. On the floor below falling 

 plaster smashed the glass case of the Cooke drum 

 chronograph, which is at present out of use. The 

 disturbance was recorded by the Milne seismograph at 

 oh. 57'2m. as a small, sharp oscillation of approxi- 

 mately o-i" semi-amplitude. 



Since 1908 the Somersetshire Archaeological and 

 Natural History Society has engaged in excavation 

 work at Glastonbury Abbey, and year by year results 

 of great historical and archaeological importance have 

 been secured. Last year, the society, at the request 

 of the Abbey trustees, appointed a special committee 

 to undertake the supervision of the future excavation 

 work, and the researches will proceed systematically. 

 An income of 250?. a year is needed to carry out the 

 work efficiently, and the funds hitherto raised by sub- 

 scriptions and donations are exhausted. The com- 

 mittee now makes a further appeal for money. Sub- 

 scriptions or donations may be sent to the treasurer of 

 the Glastonbury Abbey Excavation Fund, The Castle, 

 Taunton, Somerset. 



At the annual meeting of the Royal Geographical 

 Society on Monday last, in addition to the presenta- 

 tions made to Lady Scott and Mrs. Wilson of the 

 awards voted to their husbands, who died in the 

 Antarctic, and that made to Lieut. Campbell, which 

 are referred to elsewhere, the following awards were 

 made : — The Victoria medal to Col. S. Burrard, Sur- 

 veyor-General of India; the Murchison award to 

 Major H. D. Pearson, for his work in the Sudan; 

 the Gill memorial to Miss Lowthian Bell (Meso- 

 potamia, &c.) ; the Cuthbert Peek grant to Dr. Felix 

 Oswald (Armenia) ; and the Back bequest to Mr. 

 W. S. Barclay (South America). In his anniversary 

 address, Earl Curzon, as president, referred to the 

 momentous events of the past year in polar explora- 

 tion, and made the interesting announcement that 

 the society expects presently to receive into its charge 



