522 



NA TURE 



[October 14, 1922 



Perhaps Dr. Sharp's greatest service to zoology was 

 in connexion with the " Zoological Record." Of this he 

 became general editor in 1892, and he only laid the 

 work down a few weeks before his death. Throughout 

 this period he was also recorder of all the literature on 

 lie improved the volumes immensely, and 

 raised the classified subject-index to a wonderful degree 

 ol effi< iency. 



So far allusion lias been made only to his writ- 

 ings, but he also excelled as a field-worker and col- 

 lector. Ever laying great stress on the importance 

 of the collection and permanent preservation of 

 material, lie published several articles on these points. 

 His collection of British Coleoptera is as fine as any, 

 and he also made a very large foreign beetle collection, 

 the greater part of which, consisting of some 150,000 

 specimens, was acquired by the British Museum in 

 1905. During his time at Cambridge he amassed a 

 large amount of material for that Museum. His fine 

 library was recently purchased by the Cawthron 

 Institute at Nelson, New Zealand. 



Dr. Sharp was a wide reader, and though of rather 

 slight bodily frame he had, even to an advanced age, 

 great powers of endurance as a field-worker, and an 

 almost unlimited capacity for mental work. No time 

 was ever lost in picking up the threads of his work, so 

 that even short intervals were used to the full. He 

 was Hon. M.A. of Cambridge ; elected F.R.S. in 1890 ; 

 fellow, and former councillor of the Zoological Society. 

 He joined the Entomological Society in 1862 and was 

 president in 1887 and 1888, besides holding lesser offices 

 on several occasions. He was also an honorary or corre- 

 sponding member of the New Zealand Institute and of 

 the principal entomological societies of the world. 



H. S. 



Dr. William Kellner. 



Dr. William Kellner. who died at Charlton, on 

 September 12, in his eighty-third year, was born at 

 Frankfort in 1839, and received his scientific training 

 under Prof. Wohler at Gottingen, finally obtaining his 

 Ph.D. degree in that university. He became a Fellow 

 of the Institute of Chemistry in 1878 and served on 

 the Council from 1895 to 1898. In 1862 he came to 

 England as assistant to Sir Henry Roscoe, at Owens 

 College, Manchester, whence, in 1864, he went to 



Woolwich and joined the staff of the War Department 

 chemist (Sir Frederick Abel). In his early years at 

 Woolwich Dr. Kellner was engaged in the varied 

 general work of the chemical department. Later his 

 main work became investigator}' and experimental, 

 both in connexion with explosives, as also to meet 

 the requirements of the various Commissions and 

 Committees on which the War Department chemist 

 was a prominent member; of these the "Royal 

 Commission on Accidents in Mines " and " The 

 Explosives Committee " (appointed in 1889 to produce 

 a smokeless powder for the Service) may be men- 

 tioned. 



Dr. Kellner also devoted much work to the produc- 

 tion of an apparatus for determination of the flashing 

 point in oils, and was largely responsible for the Abel 

 Hash point apparatus, eventually perfected ; in 

 collaboration with Sir Boverton Redwood he carried 

 out an exhaustive series of tests with this apparatus. 



As a scientific worker Dr. Kellner was painstaking and 

 methodical, displaying much skill in devising experi- 

 ments to assist in elucidating the various problems 

 confronting him in the course of his work. As regards 

 practical results his most important work was in 

 connexion with the evolution of cordite, much of the 

 more difficult research and experimental work leading 

 to the production of this explosive being carried out 

 by him in the chemical department at Woolwich 

 Arsenal ; in spite of the numerous smokeless powders 

 which have been brought into use since, the fact 

 that, after a period of thirty years, cordite still remains 

 the British Service propellant for army and navy use, 

 is perhaps the best testimonial to the thoroughness 

 of his work in this direction. 



In 1892 Dr. Kellner succeeded Sir Frederick Abel 

 as chemist to the War Department, and in addition 

 to the duties of this office, served as an associate 

 member of the Ordnance Board and as consulting 

 chemist to the Royal Gunpowder Factory at Waltham 

 Abbey ; he retired from the service in 1904. 



We much regret to announce the death on October 2, 

 at fifty-eight years of age, of Col. E. H. Grove-Hills, 

 F.R.S. , formerly head of the Topographical Depart- 

 ment of the War Office and the author of a number 

 of papers on astronomical subjects. 



Current Topics and Events. 



H.R.H. the Prince of Wales has graciously 

 accepted an invitation to be present at a joint dinner 

 of the Institution of Mining Engineers (representing 

 coal-mining engineering) and the Institution of 

 Mining and Metallurgy (representing the mining of 

 minerals other than coal) to be held on Thursday, 

 November 16. The dinner will be held at the 

 Guildhall by permission of the Corporation of the 

 City of London. 



Ix his presidential address to the British Associa- 

 tion at Edinburgh last year, Sir Edward Thorpe 

 referred to the difficulty which is encountered by 

 v 1 irkers in science of being unable to obtain 

 all the scientific books they require owing to lack of 



NO. 2763, VOL. I IO] 



means. Sir Robert Hadfield has now generously 

 offered to contribute a sum of 50/. per annum for 

 three years, to be expended in supplies of books to 

 those who are engaged in scientific pursuits and are 

 unable to purchase for themselves. The council of 

 the British Association has at present under con- 

 sideration the best means of allocating this gift. 



Among many important accessions of manuscripts 

 to the Library of Congress (Washington) noted in 

 the librarian's report for 192 1, we observe the 

 papers and correspondence of the late Major-General 

 W. C. Gorgas, and the diaries and note-books of Jean 

 Nicholas Nicollet, the explorer of the upper Missis- 

 sippi, Missouri, Red, and Arkansas rivers in the first 



