256 



NATURE 



[October 31, 19 12 



He was awarded the Bordin prize in 1872, and 

 was made correspondent of the chemical section in 

 1878. He received the Davy Medal of the Royal 

 Societv in 1879, and the Lacaze prize in 1880. 



He died, after a painful illness, on May 28, at 

 the age of seventy-four years. 



J. H. Gardiner. 



NOTES. 

 In our issue of April iS last (vol. Ixxxix., p. 172) 

 the announcement was made of the appointment hi a 

 Roval Commission to inquire into and report upon 

 the natural resources of the Empire. On that occa- 

 sion it was not possible to give the names of the 

 Commissioners, but we are now able to say that the j 

 Commissioners originally appointed were as follows :— 

 Lord Inchcape, .Sir Edgar Vincent, K.C.M.G., 

 Lieut. -Colonel Sir C. J. Owens, Sir H. Rider Hag- 

 gard, Mr. T. Garnett, Mr. W. Lorimer, the Hon. 

 G. E. Foster, Mr. D. Campbell, Sir Joseph G. Ward, 

 Bart., Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaf, Bart., and 

 the Hon. E. R. Bowring. Some changes have taken 

 place in the composition of the Commission since it 

 was appointed, but neither originally nor now, so far 

 as we can find, does the Commission include a single 

 member prominently associated with some branch of 

 scientific knowledge. This is the more surprising 

 because it may be remembered that in March last, 

 a month before the Royal Commission was appointed, 

 the British Science Guild issued a report prepared by 

 one of its committees, under the chairmanship of Sir 

 William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S., on the question of 

 the conservation of natural sources of energy. The 

 British Science Guild committee was composed almost 

 entirely of expert men of science, who had given 

 particular attention to the study of the questions with 

 which the Royal Commission is dealing ; and it is 

 greatly to be deplored that one or more of their 

 number, or other representatives of pure or applied 

 science, have not been appointed members of the 

 Commission. 



The recent publication of the " Life and Scientific 

 Work" of Prof. Tait, of Edinburgh, reviewed in 

 Nature of July 13, 191 1, has reawakened a desire on 

 thepart of his many old students and friends to have a 

 worthy memorial of the "great natural philosopher." 

 The proposal is to found a second chair of natural 

 philosophy in Edinburgh, to be called the Tait chair, 

 and a strong appeal for contributions towards an 

 endowment fund has been issued by a representative 

 committee. Accompanying the appeal there is a fine 

 tribute on Tait and his vvork^ from the pen of Prof. 

 Peddle, of Dundee, one of Tait's former assistants. 

 There is also an interesting statement on the need of 

 a second chair, in which Prof. MacGregor shows that, 

 in comparison with other universities which have 

 approximately the same number of students, the 

 L'niversity of Edinburgh is far behind as regards the 

 numerical strength of its teaching staff in experimental 

 and mathematical physics. As early as 1872, Tait 

 himself, in an article in Macmillan's Magazine, 

 lamented the understafling of the Scottish univ_ersities, 

 giving it as his opinion that there should be " a pro- 

 NO. 2244, VOL. 90] 



fessor of applied mathematics in each, and a professor 

 of experimental physics, in place of the present solitary 

 professor of the enormous subject of natural philo- 

 sophy." This is the ideal which the committee has 

 set before it, and for the realisation of which it 

 has appealed to a wide public. In the days of his 

 activity Tait was a frequent and much-valued con- 

 tributor to the columns of Nature, and in the interests 

 of the higher development of physical and mathe- 

 matical science, we have much pleasure in directing' 

 the attention of our readers to this great and worthy 

 object. The honorary treasurer of the fund is Sir 

 George M. Paul, 16 St. Andrews Square, Edinburgh. 



The dinner given by the Fishmongers' Company 

 on October 24 to a distinguished company, " to meet 

 the President of the Royal Society," may well be taken 

 as an indication of the esteem in which scientific work 

 is held by a great City company. The assembly 

 invited included representatives of numerous branches 

 of science, among whom were many members of the 

 Royal Society. The following scientific societies, for 

 instance, were represented : — The Royal Horticultural 

 Societv, the British Science Guild, the Society of 

 Antiquaries, the Royal Astronomical Society, the In- 

 stitution of Civil Engineers, the Linnean Society, the 

 Geological Society, the Royal Microscopical Society, 

 the Chemical Society, the Entomological Society, and 

 the Surveyors' Institution. Sir Archibald Geikie, in 

 responding to the toast of "The Learned Societies," 

 proposed by the Prime Warden, said that the City 

 guilds have played an important part in the history 

 of London. The learned societies, too, have had close 

 relations with the City companies. The Clothworkers' 

 Company has had two distinguished masters who 

 have been presidents of the Royal Society — Samuel 

 Pepys and Lord Kelvin. The City guilds, too, have 

 shown great diligence in the application of their funds 

 for educational and scientific purposes. 



.An account of certain red bands observed by Profs. 

 Breuil and SoUas in Bacon's Hole, on the Gower 

 peninsula, and apparently of prehistoric origin, ap- 

 peared in N.ATURE of October 17 (p. iQs). According 

 to The Cambria Daily Leader of October 18, the 

 markings were made by a Mumbles boatman eighteen 

 years ago, and were produced with a brush having 

 red paint upon it, which was part of the salvage from 

 the wreck of a Norwegian barque. Several other ex- 

 planations have since been put forward, and are referred 

 to in a short article in Tuesday's Times. Whether 

 the markings are of ancient or modern origin does not 

 appear yet to have been decided definitely, but the 

 position of the question is shown by the following' 

 extract from TJie Times article: — "When they ob- 

 served the marks the first question which presented 

 itself to Prof. Breuil and Prof. Sollas was : ' Are they 

 ancient or modern ? ' Prof. Breuil, having wetted the 

 surface, attempted to remove the paint by vigorous 

 rubbing; not succeeding in this, he concluded they 

 were ancient. Prof. Sollas closely examined the wall 

 to see whether the paint was covered by stalactite, and 

 convinced himself that it was. To reassure himself 

 on this point Prof. Sollas has lately revisited the cave. 

 He was able with a hammer and chisel to detach a 



