5 8S 



NATURE 



[August 7, 191 3 



its proximity to a line of great earth-movements 

 during a late geological period. Established at 

 this centre, he entered upon the task of enlisting 

 the aid of Government departments, public institu- 

 tions, and private individuals to his great work. 

 Before he died he had the satisfaction of having 

 forty observing stations, all furnished with his own 

 type of seismometer, in constant correspondence 

 with him. The careful tabulation and discussion 

 of the records from these observatories had 

 occupied him during the last seventeen years, and 

 the results have been given to the world in a series 

 of circulars and reports by the British Association, 

 the society which, so far as its means have 

 allowed, has constantly subsidised and published 

 Milne's work; in later years the Royal Society 

 has extended its powerful support to him. 



To readers of Nature it is not necessary to en- 

 large on the results of Milne's labours since his 

 return to England. His important work in 

 tracing the cause of the fracture of submarine 

 cables ; his determination of the sites of distant 

 earthquakes from seismographic records ; his 

 proof of the distinction between vibrations that 

 travel through the earth, and those going round 

 it ; and many other suggestive contributions, are 

 familiar to everyone. 



No more striking proof of Milne's remarkable 

 activity can be afforded than the fact that while 

 the British Association has, since the year 1841, 

 published fifty-three reports on seismology, in 

 which 562 communications are embodied, no fewer 

 than 463 of these are from the pen of Milne ! And 

 all are in addition to his books and numerous 

 articles in scientific and other journals. 



The eighteenth (alas ! it is the last !) of the 

 luminous reports prepared since his return to 

 England is now in the press, and will be pre- 

 sented at the forthcoming meeting of the British 

 Association. It fittingly concludes with a touch- 

 ing and generous obituary notice of his Japanese 

 assistant, Shinobu Hirota (the faithful "Snow"), 

 who returned home to die last April. But, in- 

 deed, Milne's was an ever-generous soul. Students 

 of seismology from all lands visited Shide, and 

 were always warmly welcomed by Milne, often 

 partaking of his hospitality. Not only these, but 

 idle tourists, journalists in search of "copy," 

 teachers with their pupils, and even children, were 

 ungrudgingly received. In spite of his exacting 

 labours, he seemed ever ready to show his instru- 

 ments and talk about his work with the most 

 casual visitor. 



Some, perhaps, may suggest that Milne was 

 wanting in sympathy with the work of co-ordinat- 

 ing the results of other organisations than his 

 own ; and it may be admitted that his Pegasus did 

 not run well in harness. But it must be remem- 

 bered how, from the first, he had been accustomed 

 to bear all the weight and responsibility of great 

 enterprises on his own broad shoulders. John 

 Milne's death is indeed a great calamity for 

 science — how great will only be realised when the 

 attempt is made to supplv his place. 



J- W. J. 

 NO. 2284, VOL. 91] 



NOTES. 



The Baly medal has been awarded by the Royal 

 College of Physicians to Dr. J. S. Haldane, F.R.S., 

 reader in physiology at the University of Oxford, in 

 recognition of his distinguished contributions to 

 physiological science. 



Prof. VV. C. McIntosh, F.R.S., professor of natural 

 history in the University of St. Andrews, and director 

 of the Gatty Marine Laboratory, has been elected 

 president of the Ray Society in succession to the late 

 Lord Avebury. 



The death is announced of Mr. T. H. Russell, of 

 Birmingham, who was a fellow of the Linnean Society 

 and the author of a work on mosses and liverworts. 



A paragraph in The Times of August 2 states that 

 there are 106 clocks attached to premises in the City 

 of London, and observable from the public way. Of 

 these, forty-two are synchronised from Greenwich 

 Observatory. There are, in addition, twenty-nine 

 church clocks in the City (including St. Paul's Cathe- 

 dral), none of which are synchronised or even unani- 

 mous in their irregularity. 



In a letter published in The Scotsman of July 24, 

 Dr. John G. Havelock, of Montrose, describes some 

 observations which have led him to conclude that 

 common varieties of the single petunia are true insec- 

 tivorous plants. Mr. Alex. Johnstone, of the same 

 town, has sent us an account of observations of his 

 own which suggest the same conclusion. Sir Herbert 

 Maxwell, in The Scotsman of July 28, thinks Rhodo- 

 dendron barbabum also deserves attention as probably 

 an insectivorous plant. Only a careful experiment 

 can determine the accuracy of the suggestion that 

 Petunia is insectivorous, and it may be hoped the 

 point will receive the attention of plant physiologists. 



The exhibited collection of Mesozoic crocodiles in 

 the Geological Department of the British Museum 

 (Natural History) has just been rearranged to incor- 

 porate some important recent acquisitions. A new 

 specimen of Mystriosaurus from the Upper Lias of 

 Wiirtemberg, prepared by Mr. B. Hauff, is one of the 

 finest known examples, with almost complete limbs. 

 The stomach-contents are seen, mingled with swal- 

 lowed pebbles. A specimen of Geosaurus, from the 

 Lithographic Stone of Bavaria, shows for the first 

 time the triangular tail-fin by which this essentially 

 marine crocodile propelled itself. The unique example 

 of the Wealden river-crocodile Goniopholis, discovered 

 a few years ago by Mr. R. W. Hooley in the cliff 

 near Atherfield, Isle of Wight, and described by him 

 in the Geological Society's Journal, has also been 

 mounted and exhibited. 



The sixtieth birthday of Prof. VV. Ridgway was 

 fittingly commemorated a few days ago by a 

 dinner at Caius College, Cambridge, attended by 

 scholars and men of science from all parts of the 

 kingdom. Few archaeologists of the present day have 

 done more, by original work, stimulating instruction, 

 and the application of anthropological methods in the 

 solution of historical problems, to advance English 

 scholarship. His treatises "The Origin of Currency 



