246 
NALURE 
[May 9, 1912 
Cain; and for physical constants, Drs. Wilsmore 
and Cain and Prof. Findlay. Dr. Cain’s ser- 
vices have been secured for all three committees in 
view of his editorship of the publications of the 
Chemical Society. The other chemical societies 
have also appointed influential committees to deal 
with these same subjects, and the reports of these 
committees were considered at the Berlin congress 
last month. At this gathering thirteen societies 
having a total membership of 18,000 were repre- 
sented. The next meeting of the Association is to 
be held in London in September, 1913, under 
the presidency of Sir Wm. Ramsay, when, in 
addition to the subjects already being dealt with, 
the question of the possibility of arriving at an 
international understanding with respect to edit- 
ing and to the publication of abstracts will be 
considered. 
In view of the overlap and duplication of pub- 
lication now being carried on by several societies 
all doing the same kind of work, it will be seen 
that great need exists in the interests of chemical 
literature for making a serious effort towards 
centralisation. This can only be done by inter- 
national co-operation, and it is to be hoped that 
some practical scheme may be developed as one 
result of the useful and valuable labours which the 
new Association has entered upon. 
MR. JOHN GRAY. 
WE announced with regret last week the death 
of Mr. John Gray, one of the examiners of 
the Patent Office, and well known for enthusiastic 
and painstaking efforts on behalf of anthropology. 
Mr. Gray was born at Strichen, Aberdeenshire, 
on January 9, 1854. He was educated at the 
Aberdeen Grammar School and at Edinburgh Uni- 
versity, where he took the second prize in Prof. 
Fleeming Jenkin’s class in 1873. He obtained 
the first Royal Exhibition at the Royal School of 
Mines, London, in 1875, and later received the 
associateship in metallurgy. He took his degree 
in Edinburgh in 1878, and entered the Patent 
Office in that year. 
Mr. Gray made a study of many electrical 
problems, especially those bearing on electrical 
influence machines. He published a book on this 
subject, in which he traced the historical develop- 
ment of influence machines, and described such 
modern forms as those of Kelvin, Voss, Holtz, 
and Wimshurst. He was well known for his con- 
nection with physical anthropology, and took an 
active part in all recent efforts to secure its 
recognition by the State. He was elected treasurer 
of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1904, and 
his efforts to improve the financial condition of that 
body were crowned with complete success. In 
1904 he gave evidence before the Interdepart- 
mental Committee on physical deterioration, and, 
in conjunction with the late Prof. Cunningham, 
submitted a scheme for a national anthropometric 
survey. 
At the request of the Royal Anthropological 
Institute, Mr. Gray organised» a deputation to 
meet the late Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the 
NO. 2219, VOL. 89| 
object of which was to impress on the Government 
the necessity of carrying out the recommendation. 
of the Physical Deterioration Committee with 
regard to a national survey. He designed a 
number of novel anthropometric instruments, some 
of which are extensively used by anthropologists, 
and for which he received a diploma of honour at 
the Franco-British Exhibition. 
Mr. Gray took a deep interest in his native 
county, and, in conjunction with Mr. J. F. 
Tocher, conducted a_ series of anthropometric’ 
measurements on the population of Aberdeenshire 
from 1895 to 1899, the results of which were 
published in the Journal of the Royal Anthropo- 
logical Institute, and in the Transactions of the 
Buchan Club, of which he was president in 1899. 
In 1901-1902, along with Mr. Tocher, he advo- 
cated a survey of the colour characters of school 
children of Scotland, and joined the Scottish com- 
mittee on its formation, the other members being 
Sir William Turner, K.C.B., F.R.S., Prof. R. W. 
Reid, and Mr. Tocher. Both he and Mr. Tocher 
published memoirs bearing on the results of the 
survey from different viewpoints. Mr. Gray’s 
memoir appeared in the Journal of the Royal 
Anthropological Institute (Vol. 37, 1907). ° In this 
memoir Mr. Gray gave his views on the distribu- 
tion of colour in Scotland, and displayed local 
groupings by a system of contour lines in a series 
of maps. 
Mr. Gray’s many contributions to anthropo- 
logical literature include the following :— 
“Measurements on Papuan Skulls” (J.R.A-I., 
tgor), “Indian Coronation Contingent” (B.A. 
Report, 1902), “England before the English” 
(B.A. Report, 1906), ““A New Instrument for 
Determining the Colour of the Hair, Eyes. and 
Skin” (Man, 1908), and “Who Built the British 
Stone Circles?” (Nature, December 24, 1908). 
Mr. Gray is survived by a widow and one 
daughter. 
NOTES. 
Tue French Ambassador took the chair on May 3 
at the first of the series of four lectures being de- 
livered by M. Henri Poincaré on mathematical subjects 
at the University of London: the two remaining lec- 
tures will be given on May to and 11. M. Poincaré, 
who was born in 1854, was educated at the lycée at 
Nancy, entered the Ecole Polytechnique, being placed 
first on the list, and on leaving it became a Government 
mining engineer (ingénieur des mines), this employ- 
ment being reserved for those who occupy very high 
places at the examen de sortie of the school. He 
exercised this profession only for a short time; in 
1881 he was appointed to a lectureship in pure mathe- 
maties at the Sorbonne, and when M. Lippmann 
exchanged the chair of mathematical physics for a 
chair of experimental physics, M. Poincaré succeeded 
him. Later, on the death of M. Tisserand, M. Poin- 
caré succeeded to the chair of mathematical astro- 
nomy. He has made contributions of the greatest 
importance to pure and applied mathematics, astro- 
nomy, and mathematical physics, and also to scientific 
eT Ns i 
