February io, 1910] 



NA 7 URE 



435 



Prof. Purser's university career was very brilliant. 

 He obtained a science scholarship in 1859, a large 

 gold medal in mathematics, pure and applied, at the 

 moderatorship examination in i860; Bishop Law's 

 mathematical prize, the MacCullagh prize, and in 

 1872 fellowship. At that time the fellows of Trinity 

 College, Dublin, were supposed to be members of 

 what had recently been the Established Church, and 

 on their election were obliged to make a declaration 

 which was partly of a religious character. Frederick 

 Purser was a Moravian, and though no question 

 would have been asked as to his special form of belief, 

 he considered that he could not with truth make the 

 required declaration, and consequently the fellowship 

 he had won was declared vacant. 



In 1873 Fawcett's .Act abolished religious tests in 

 the University of Dublin, and Purser began to read 

 again for fellowship, which he gained for the second 

 time in 1879. This has always been regarded as a 

 wonderful feat bv those who are best acquainted with 

 the nature and difficulty of the fellowship examina- 

 tion in Trinity College. In 1902 Purser succeeded 

 Tarleton as professor of natural philosophy, which pro- 

 fessorship he held until his death. In 1905 and igo6 he 

 was a vice-president of the Royal Irish Academy. He 

 published in the Proceedings of the Academy some 

 fine papers on the applications of Bessel's function to 

 various difficult questions in physics. Some beautiful 

 investigations of Prof. Purser are to be found in 

 Tarleton's "Introduction to the Mathematical Theory 

 of Attraction." Purser's publications, however, repre- 

 sent most inadequately the extent of his knowledge 

 and his genius. 



A more profound or accurate thinker than Prof. 

 Purser it would be difficult to find. He was not 

 merely a mathematfcian — he was also a metaphysician 

 of the highest order. His paper, published many 

 years ago in Hcrinathena, on "Hamilton's System 

 of Natural Realism," was a work of rare ability. In 

 that paper he showed that Hamilton's theory, when 

 stripped of its absurdities and inconsistencies, was 

 almost the same as the theory of Kant. As a meta- 

 phvsician Prof. Purser was in the main a follower 

 of Kant. Of geometries of space of more than three 

 dimensions he had a poor opinion, and looked upon 

 them as little more than algebraical exercises. 



Possessed of considerable wealth, he expended it 

 with the greatest generosity. He was a munificent 

 benefactor of Queen's College, Belfast, where his 

 brother was a professor ; of Trinity College, Dublin ; 

 and of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Prof. Purser's chief fault — if it may be described as 

 such — was one whicli appears to belong to the whole 

 Purser family, that is, the fault of thinking far too 

 little of his own powers and of the value of his own 

 performances. 



NOTES. 



For the meeting of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, which is to take place this year 

 at Sheffield on .\ugust 31 and following days, under the 

 presidency of Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., the following 

 presidents have been appointed to the various sections : — 

 A (Mathematical and Physical Science), Dr. E. VV. Hobson, 

 F.R.S. ; B (Chemistry), Mr. J. E. Stead, F.R.S. ; 

 C (Geology), Prof. A. P. Coleman ; D (Zoology), Prof. 

 G. C. Bourne ; E (Geography), Dr. A. J. Herbertson ; 

 F (Economic Science and Statistics), Sir H. Llewellyn 

 Smith, K.C.B. ; G (Engineering), Prof. W. E. Dalby ; 

 H (Anthropology), Mr. W. Crooke ; I (Physiology), Prof. 

 A. B. Macallum, F.R.S. ; K (Botany), Prof. J. W. H. 

 Trail, F.R.S. ; L (Educational Science), Principal H. A. 

 Miers, F.R.S. 



NO. 2102, VOL. 82] 



I.v a speech delivered at Washington last week. Com- 

 mander Robert E. Peary proposed, on behalf of the Peary 

 Arctic Club, that the National Geographic Society should 

 unite with the club in the organisation ol a United States 

 South Polar Expedition, to start in the autumn of this 

 year. He promised that the Peary Club would lend the 

 Roosevelt for the purposes of the expedition, but stated 

 that he himself would be unable to assume the com- 

 mand in person. The proposal has since been accepted 

 by the directors of the National Geographic Society. 

 All proposals which aim at the extension of know- 

 ledge of the Antarctic area are to be welcomed, but 

 now that so many projects for the exploration of the south 

 polar regions are to the fore, it is necessary to consider 

 how Commander Peary's scheme stands in relation to 

 other Antarctic enterprises. The only expedition at present 

 in the field is that under Dr. Jean Charcot on board the 

 Poiirquoi Pas, which a year ago penetrated the Antarctic 

 regions to the south of South America. It intended to 

 make its way westwards, and, if possible, undertake a 

 " dash " to the South Pole from the ship's winter quarters. 

 If the expedition makes its way northwards again this 

 season, news of it should be received in the course of the 

 next two months. The British expedition now in course 

 of organisation by Captain Scott will make its head- 

 quarters in McMurdo Sound, and, if possible, land a small 

 party on King Edward VII. Land. The expedition pro- 

 posed by Commander Peary will not interfere with these 

 plans in any way, since it is suggested that its base should 

 be on the opposite side of the .Antarctic continent, that is 

 to say, on Coats Land, in the Weddell Sea, south of the 

 .'\tlantic Ocean. This is the coast which Dr. W. S. Bruce, 

 its discoverer, wishes to make the base of a Scottish 

 -Antarctic expedition, and Sir Ernest Shackleton has also 

 stated that if he should go south again he would probably 

 attempt to reach the Pole from the side of the Weddell 

 Sea. An alternative base suggested by Sir Ernest 

 Shackleton is Gaussberg, to the south of the Indian Ocean, 

 off which the German expedition under Dr. Von Dr3-galski 

 wintered in 1902. Gaussberg is situated on the Antarctic 

 circle ; the most southerly known point of Coats Land is 

 just beyond the seventy-fourth parallel, or 960 geographical 

 miles from the Pole, while Cape Royds, in McMurdo 

 Sound, where Captain Scott proposes to winter, is in 

 between 77° and 78° south latitude, nearly 750 geographical 

 miles from the Pole. 



Mr. W. Bat-eson, F.R.S., and Dr. H. T. Bovey, 

 F.R.S., have been elected members of the Atheneeum Club 

 under the provisions of the rule which empowers the 

 annual election by the committee of nine persons " of 

 distinguished eminence in science, literature, the arts, or 

 for public services." 



The Julius Thomsen memorial lecture of the Chemical 

 Society will be delivered on February 17 by Sir Edward 

 Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S. 



Four lectures on " The Anatomy and Relationships of 

 the Negro and Negroid Races " will be delivered in the 

 theatre of the Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn 

 Fields, by Prof. Arthur Keith (conservator of the museum), 

 on February 14, 16, 18, and 21. Ladies and gentlemen 

 will be admitted to the lectures on presenting their private 

 visiting cards. 



The annual conversazione of the Selborne Society will be 

 held on Friday, February 18. An address will be given 

 by Sir John Cockburn, K.C.M.G., and a lecture on 

 " Selborne and its -Associations with Gilbert White " by 

 Mr. E. J. Bedford. There will be a large display of 



