February 27, 19 13] 



NATURE 



705 



to complete his investigations by a study in detail 

 of the relation between the effects which should 

 be observed, according to it, and the actual results 

 of observation. 



SIR WILLIAM ARROL. 

 CIR WILLIAM ARROL, the famous bridge- 

 »-^ builder, born in 1839 at Houston, Renfrew- 

 shire, died on February 20 at his residence. Sea- 

 field House, Ayr. His great mechanical abilities 

 and his remarkable administrative powers — two 

 qualities not often found associated — enabled him 

 in the space of little more than forty years, for 

 he started on his own account only in i86g, to 

 expand a humble little boiler-repairing shop into 

 tlie great Dalmarnock works employing some 

 5000 hands. 



Sir William Arrol was fortunate in finding a 

 suitable field of work for the menial gifts with 

 which he was so richly endowed. From the first 

 his attention had been directed to the many novel 

 problems, hitherto unsolved, which must be over- 

 come if the building of long-span steel bridges was 

 to be rendered commercially possible. It is with 

 the great steel cantilever bridge over the Firth of 

 Forth that his name will be for ever linked. De- 

 signed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin 

 Baker, the hazardous and difficult task of its erec- 

 tion was entrusted to the firm of W. Arrol and Co. 

 Splendid as was the design, perfect as were the 

 working drawings down to the minutest details, 

 when they left the hands of the two designers, it is 

 not too much to say that it was the mechanical 

 genius of William Arrol which made the erection 

 of the bridge a possibility within the limits of time 

 and cost which had been laid down by the 

 engineers. The lengths of the spans and the 

 height of the piers were far beyond any- 

 thing previously attempted, and as a result the 

 difficulties which had to be overcome would- have 

 daunted most men ; they only served to show 

 more clearly the extraordinary gifts he possessed. 

 It was in this task that his mechanical genius 

 found its best outlet. During the whole of the 

 seven years that the work was in progress he 

 was constantly busy, scheming new devices such 

 as improved hydraulic riveting appliances, oil-fired 

 rivet-heaters, complex and ingenious machines for 

 the troublesome task of drilling the plates which 

 went to build up the huge steel compression 

 members, and, most important of all, no detail, 

 however insignificant, escaped his watchful super- 

 vision and control. 



He received his knighthood on the completion of 

 the bridge in iSgo, and never was this honour 

 bestowed on one who had more worthily earned it; 

 he had revolutionised the art of bridge-building 

 and made it a science. The Tay Bridge, the Tower 

 Bridge, and many other great structures will bear 

 testimony to the fact that Sir William Arrol was, 

 as a mechanical engineer, fully entitled to a place 

 in that little band of men whose achievements in 

 the field of engineering shed lustre over the last 

 half of the nineteenth century. 

 NO. 2261, VOL. 90] 



NO I P.S. 

 Bad news is to hand from the Australian Antarctic 

 expedition, under the leadership of Dr. Mawson, for 

 two members of it have lost their lives. These are 

 Lieut. Ninnis, an Englishman, and Dr. Mertz, a 

 Swiss member of the scientific staff. The manner of 

 their death is not stated, and, indeed, the whole 

 message, which has reached Australia from the wire- 

 less telegraphic station established by the expedition 

 at Macquarie Island, leav'es us anxious for further 

 information. It may be recalled that the expedition, 

 reaching the Antarctic region in February of last 

 year, was divided into two parties, under Dr. Mawson 

 and Mr. Wild respectively, which landed about 143° E. 

 and 95° E., in Ad^Iie Land and Kaiser Wilhelm Land. 

 It is known that valuable scientific work has been 

 done, and that a considerable extent of coast-line has 

 been charted for the first time. The vessel of the 

 expedition, the Aurora, returned to Australia after 

 landing the parties, and made a second vo)'age to 

 the south to bring them off. It was thought that 

 Dr. Mawson was aboard her, but apparently he 

 missed her, owing to "unfortunate circumstances," 

 which are not specified, and will have to remain in 

 the south for another year, with six of his staff. 

 For the rest, after mentioning the unhappy loss above 

 referred to, he merely adds that there has been a 

 successful sledging season, "opening up a large area 

 of new land, both east and west of Commonwealth 

 Bay, and obtaining important data at a number of 

 stations in close proximity to the magnetic pole." 

 But in view of what has befallen, anxiety must re- 

 main for many months as to the welfare of this 

 party. 



It is officially announced that in recognition of the 

 Antarctic work of her husband, the King has been 

 pleased to grant to Mrs. Kathleen Scott the same 

 rank, style, and precedence as if Capt. Scott had been 

 nominated a Knight Commander of the Bath, as he 

 would have been had he survived. 



An interesting exhibition of works by the late Mr. 

 Thomas Woolner, R.A., is open at his studios, 29 

 Welbeck Street, W., until March 8. The e.xhibits 

 include a number of objects of interest to men of 

 science, among them being plaster busts of Charles 

 Darwin, Huxley, and Richard Quain, bronze medal- 

 lions of Darwin and Sir Joseph Hooker, a colossal 

 head, in plaster, of Capt. Cook, and a bronze medal 

 representing science and research. Any works not 

 disposed of during the exhibition will be sold in the 

 studio by auction, on a date to be announced later. 



We learn from The Lancet that, on the suggestion 

 of the High Commissioner for Cyprus, the Secretary of 

 State for the Colonies has arranged that a visit shall 

 be paid to the island, during March, by Sir Ronald 

 Ross, K.C.B., F.R.S.. The object of the visit is to 

 investigate the causes of the prevalence of malarial 

 fever in the island, and to advise in regard to the 

 best means of combating the disease. 



The President of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries has appointed Mr. D. H. Lane and Mr. 

 Stephen Reynolds to be members of the Departmental 



