586 



NA TURE 



[October 12, 1905 



(4) To promote scientific education by encouraging 

 the support of universities and other institutions 

 where tlie bounds of science are extended, or where 

 new applications of science are devised. 



During the first stage of the existence of the guild, 

 the public activitv of the committee was limited, by 

 reasons of policy, because at the moment of the in- 

 ception of the movement the attention of the country, 

 and especially of Parliament, was so deeply engrossed 

 in the fiscal problem that no other question, however 

 important, was likely to receive due attention. 



The Royal Society and British Association were 

 founded for the promotion of natural knowledge; the 

 Society of .Vrts for the encouragement of arts, manu- 

 factures, and commerce. The Science Guild, though 

 in sympathy with these objects, is not identical in 

 aim with any existing society. The promotion of 

 natural knowledge is outside its sphere. Its purpose 

 is to stimulate, not so much the acquisition of scien- 

 tific knowledge, as the appreciation of its value, and 

 the advantage of employing the methods of scientific 

 inquiry, the study of cause and effect, in affairs of 

 every kind. Such methods are not less applicable to 

 the problems which confront the statesman, the 

 official, the merchant, the manufacturer, the soldier, 

 and the schoolmaster, than to those of the chemist 

 or the biologist ; and the value of a scientific educa- 

 tion lies in the cultivation which it gives of the power 

 to grasp and apply the principles of investigation 

 employed in the laboratory to the problems which 

 modern life presents in peace or war. 



Communications may be addressed to the honorary 

 secretary of the British Science Guild, i6 Penywern 

 Road, London, S.W. 



SIR WILLIAM WHARTON. K.C.B.. F.R.S. 

 Al^ILLIAM JAMES LLOYD WHARTON, second 



* • son of the late Mr. Robert Wharton, County 

 Court Judge of York, was born in London on 

 March 2, 1843. Educated at Burney's Academy, 

 Gosport, he entered the Royal Navy in .August, 1857, 

 on board" H.M.S. Illustrious, then recently com- 

 missioned as a training ship for naval cadets, 

 stationed at Portsmouth. Passing with great credit 

 out of the Illustrious, he was appointed in .\pril, 

 1858, midshipman of H.M.S. Euryalus, on board 

 which ship H.R.H. Prince Alfred (afterwards Duke 

 of Edinburgh) was also serving. In November, i860, 

 being appointed to H.M.S. Jason, commissioned for 

 service on the North .American and West Indian 

 stations, he was lent to H.M.S. St. George, employed 

 on fishery duties in Newfoundland during the summer 

 of 1861. On completing his time as midshipman he 

 passed his examination in seamanship for the rank 

 of lieutenant on January ij, 1863. Whilst still serving 

 in the Jason he was made acting lieutenant of that 

 ship on October 26, 1S64, and at the close of the 

 year, on the Jason returning to England to pay off, 

 he at last had the opportunity to pass the examin- 

 ations in gunnery and navigation necessary to qualify 

 him for the rank of lieutenant. In these he acquitted 

 himself brilliantly, being confirmed in his rank March 



15, 1865. In December of that year he was awarded 

 the Beaufort testimonial for passing the best examin- 

 ation of the year in mathematics, nautical astronomy, 

 and navigation. 



In the meantime, in July, 1S65, he had been 

 appointed to H.M.S. Gannet, a sloop commissioned 

 partly for the general duties of the fleet, and partly 

 for surveying service on the North American and West 



Indian stations, but acting entirely under the orders 

 of the Commander-in-Chief. In that ship he acquired 

 his first experience in the work to which his life was 

 afterwards devoted, receiving the commendation of 



the Board of .'\dmiralty for the zeal displayed by him 

 NO. T876, VOL. 72] 



on the work performed in the Bay of Fundy. The 

 Ganiiet paid off in November, i8bS. 



The interest of the Commander-in-Chief, \ice- 

 .Admiral Sir James Hope, having been aroused by 

 the ability and industry shown by Lieut. Wharton 

 whilst serving in the Gannei, as well as by the 

 distinction which he had gained in passing his 

 examinations, when the admiral hoisted his flag 

 at Portsmouth he offered to Wharton the appoint- 

 ment of flag lieutenant. The hydrographer had 

 meanwhile promised to submit his name as second 

 lieutenant of H.M.S. surveying vessel Newport; 

 Wharton consequently considered that his services 

 were pledged to the Surveying Service, although 

 by adhering to it he was fully aware that he 

 would sacrifice the prospect of certain promotion 

 at the end of three years, but this he was prepared 

 to do. Sir James Hope, however, took another view, 

 and speedily arranging matters with the hydro- 

 grapher, Wharton was appointed as his flag lieu- 

 tenant on March i, i8bg. Whilst so employed he 

 wrote " The History of H.M.S. \'ictory," which still 

 commands a steady sale to the public, the proceed> 

 being devoted to the R.N. Seamen's and ^larines' 

 Orphans' Home, Portsmouth. 



In November, 1S70. H.M.S. I'rgeiii being fitted 

 out to convey astronomers to the neighbourhood of 

 Gibraltar to obser\-e the forthcoming total eclipse of 

 the sun. Sir James Hope gratified his flag lieutenant 

 by permitting him to accompany the expedition as 

 first lieutenant of the ship. He was promoted to 

 commander March 2, 1872, on Sir J. Hope striking 

 his flag, and the following month saw him appointed 

 to the command of H.M. surveying vessel Sliearwater, 

 first on the Mediterranean station and afterwards 

 on the east coast of Africa. In the Mediterranean 

 his work was chiefl\- distinguished by a valuable 

 contribution to science in the form of an investigation 

 of the surface and undercurrents in the Bosphorus, 

 setting at rest the many controversies respecting the 

 e.xhaustless flow of water from the Black Sea to the 

 .Sea of Marmora by proving that an undercurrent 

 existed as strong as that on the surface, but which 

 invariably flowed in exactly an opposite direction. 

 His report, which was officially published, may be 

 considered as prescribing the method for similar 

 inquiries. Whilst at Rodriquez, in the South Indian 

 Ocean, he took part in observing the transit of Venus 

 in 1874. The .Shearivater was paid off in July, 1875, 

 and in June the following year he commissioned the 

 Fawn for surveying service in the Mediterranean, 

 Red Sea, and east coast of .'\frica. Starting with a 

 staff of officers most of whom were wholly in- 

 experienced. Commander Wharton set himself to train 

 them after his own ideals, and succeeded in imbuing 

 his assistants with something of his untiring energy 

 and love of the work. Whilst exacting the utmost 

 that each individual was capable of giving to the 

 service, he exercised unremitting patience and for- 

 bearance, and throughout a prolonged commission 

 of four and a half years endeared himself to all who 

 had the happiness to serve under him. He was 

 sympathetic and considerate towards both officers and 

 men, and entered heartily into all schemes for their 

 recreation when opportunity offered. This com- 

 mission of the Fawn was perhaps one of the most 

 successful, as it certainly was one of the happiest, 

 ever spent by a surveying vessel in modern times. 

 The last two years were occupied with the survey of 

 the Sea of Marmora, an excellent piece of work for 

 which he and his oflicers received an expression of 

 their Lordships' approbation. 



On January 29, i8,So, \\"harton was promoted to 

 captain, and the Fawn paid off at Malta ;it the end 

 of the year. 



