September 30, 1922] 



NA TURE 



459 



Gael," and the book on the Brehon laws, barely com- 

 pleted before she left England for the last time, which 

 is to be published shortly under the title " Liberty, 

 Order, and Law under Native Irish Rule," dedicated 

 to " the Rebuilders of Ireland United and Free." 



Like Plato's philosopher " the spectator of all time 

 and all existence," Mrs. Bryant by her clearness of vision 

 and width of outlook made it impossible to think of 

 anything mean or ungenerous in association with her. 

 She was a great teacher, a great personality, and a 

 splendid friend, a perpetual source of inspiration and 

 joy to those who knew her. Her spirit lives, not only 

 in the school she helped to build (advancing it alike 

 in science and the humanities till it stood first among 



a band of sister-schools), but in all those who owe to 

 her a grasp of the ideal, an understanding of the meaning 

 and value of life. M. II. W. 



We much regret to announce the death on September 

 2 1 . at the age of fifty-eight years, of Prof. F. T. Trouton, 

 F.R.S., emeritus professor of physics in the University 

 of London. 



The secretary of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers informs us of the death of Mr. Louis 

 Heathcote Walter, a member of the Institution staff, 

 who had been editor of Science Abstracts since 1903. 



Current Topics 



It was no mean occasion that the members of the 

 Yorkshire Philosophical Society met together on 

 Wednesday, September 20, to celebrate. To have 

 held aloft the lamp of learning for a hundred years, 

 and to have conserved and preserved, amid all the 

 changing scenes and conditions of a century, the 

 ancient ruins of St. Leonard's Hospital, the Roman 

 Wall and the Multangular Tower, the ruins of St. 

 Mary's Abbey, and built up a museum second to 

 none in the provinces in the richness of its collections, 

 is indeed a record of which the society might feel 

 justly proud. Moreover, during this period the 

 societv has been instrumental in founding two most 

 powerful and wide - reaching institutions, for the 

 Yorkshire Museum was the birthplace and cradle of 

 the British Association and the younger Museums 

 Association. It was therefore very fitting that the 

 society should celebrate the occasion of its hundredth 

 birthday and receive the congratulations of its 

 honoured patron His Majesty the King, and various 

 universities and learned societies. Mr. W. H. St. 

 Ouintin, the president, occupied the chair, and was 

 supported by the vice-presidents and council, the 

 hon. treasurer (Mr. Edwin Gray), the hon. secretary 

 (Mr. C. E. Elmhirst), the keeper of the museums 

 (Dr. Walter E. Collinge), and the Rt. Hon. the Lord 

 Mayor, the City Sheriff, Aldermen, and Council. 

 After briefly tracing the history of the society, the 

 work it has done, and recounting its benefactors, 

 Mr. St. Quintin pointed out that a considerable sum 

 of money will be necessary if the society is to con- 

 tinue its good work for the advancement of science, 

 and he asked that in this, its centenary year, a sub- 

 stantial amount should be forthcoming. Addresses 

 were read or presented from a number of leading 

 scientific societies and other national institutions. 

 His Highness the Maharaj Rana of Jhalawar offered 

 congratulations on behalf of the Indian Empire, and 

 congratulatory messages were received from other 

 distinguished people. At the close of the meeting 

 a highly picturesque procession was formed to the 

 Cathedral, where a special evensong was held, the 

 Lord Bishop of Beverley officiating. The delegates 

 and visitors were later entertained to dinner in the 

 De Grey Rooms, after which a conversazione was 

 held in the Yorkshire Museum and the Tempest 

 Anderson Hall. 



NO. 2/6l, VOL. I io] 



and Events. 



According to the September issue of the ' 

 Educator, the official organ of the Decimal Association, 

 the metric system has been or is soon to be adopted 

 in Greece, Poland, Haiti, and Japan, while the Russian 

 government is rapidly introducing it into its adminis- 

 trative departments. The British Chamber of Com- 

 merce in the Argentine and the Consul for Bolivia 

 again warn British exporters of the futility of quoting 

 in pounds, shillings, and pence for amounts specified 

 in Imperial weights and measures. Mr. W. A. 

 Appleton, secretary of the General Federation of 

 Trade Unions, states that " these weights and measures 

 of ours cheat the home buyer and arouse the suspicion 

 of the foreigner," and asks how many buyers know 

 the difference in weight of a peck of potatoes and a 

 peck of peas. The Lancashire cotton market has 

 ceased to quote cotton in sixty-fourths of a penny 

 and now gives the price in hundredths, but we still 

 appear likely to fulfil the prediction of Augustus de 

 Morgan and " adopt the metric system when every 

 other country has done so." Sir Richard Gregory, 

 president of the association, recommends in an 

 introductory article that the metric system should 

 be made the sole legal system in all departments of 

 State, and the nation thus prepared for its general 

 introduction, which is bound to come in its time, as 

 it is foolish to expect the world to adopt the Imperial 

 as an international system. 



A report has been received that the ruins of an 

 ancient city of great extent have been discovered 

 in Colombia by the South American Archaeological 

 Expedition from Chicago. As yet the information 

 is scanty, but Dr. J. A. Mason, the leader of the 

 expedition, states that the ruins are situated in the 

 Province of Magdalena, twenty miles south of Santa 

 Marta : " There must have been a tremendous 

 population here at one time, as the country is covered 

 with house sites. The country is very mountainous, 

 and the houses, which were of wood, were built on 

 terraces made with retaining walls." It is not certain 

 that these terraces may not be those used in terraced 

 cultivation, but Colombia has been little explored, 

 and a detailed report of the excavations must be 

 awaited before the value of the discovery 

 estimated. 



After having been lost for centuries the remains 

 of the ancient monastery of Nendrum, on Malice 



