6io 



NA TURE 



[November 4, 1922 



1900, 1901, 1905, and these will probably be repro- 

 duced. 



Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society will long 

 remember Wesley's readiness to help them in their 

 researches, and to put his intimate knowledge of the 

 society's library at their service. He was an original 

 member of the British Astronomical Association, and 

 served as vice-president for many years ; on one 

 occasion he delivered the presidential address in place 

 of the late Mr. Green. A. C. D. Crommelin. 



Prof. C. Michie Smith. 



Charles Michie Smith, who died on September 27, 

 was born on July 13, 1854, at Keig, Aberdeen. He 

 studied at Aberdeen and Edinburgh, graduating as 

 B.Sc. in 1876. He was appointed professor of physics 

 at the Christian College, Madras, in the same year, and 

 in 1891 became Government Astronomer at Madras. 

 In 1899 he brought out the New Madras General 

 Catalogue of 5303 stars : the low latitude of Madras 

 gives its .star catalogues special importance, since they 

 serve to link the northern and southern catalogues. 



Michie Smith observed the annular eclipse of 1894, 

 and the total one of 1898 at Sahdol, obtaining some 

 beautiful large-scale coronal photographs. He also 

 observed the Leonid meteors in 1899, including 37 of 

 the first magnitude (Mon. Not. R.A.S., vol. 60), and 

 published an extensive record of meteors seen at Madras 

 from i86r to 1890. He also observed the Zodiacal 

 light, and wrote the article on this subject in the 

 " Encyclopaedia Britannica " (9th edit.). 



Regular meteorological observations were made at 

 Madras, and in 1893, Michie Smith published those of 

 the years 1856 to i86r. He also contributed papers to 

 the Royal Society of Edinburgh on the eruption of 

 Bandaisan, the determination of surface-tension by 

 measurement of ripples, and on atmospheric electricity 

 and the absorption spectra of vegetable colouring 

 matters. It was under his initiative that the mountain 

 observatory at Kodaikanal was inaugurated in 1899, 

 which has played such an important part in the ex- 

 tension of our knowledge of solar physics. He presided 

 over the two observatories from 1899 till his retirement 

 in 191 1, when he was succeeded by Mr. Evershed. 



We regret to announce the death of the eminent 

 scholar and editor, Dr. James Hastings, at the age 

 of seventy-one years. The various Dictionaries of 

 the Bible published under his control have enjoved 

 much popularity, combining with the orthodox position 

 the results of modern criticism. But his greatest work 

 was the " Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics," the 

 publication of which began in 1908 and ended with the 

 twelfth volume in 1921. Like all works of the kind, 

 it is uneven, but to the student of comparative religion, 

 ethics and philosophy, anthropology and folklore, it is 

 of the highest value. Hastings was a model editor, 

 quiet and unassuming, sparing no pains to verify a 

 fact or a reference ; he maintained the most agreeable 

 relations with his many contributors, some of whom 

 must have tried his patience sorely. His fault, if it 

 be a fault, was excessive kindness and hesitation in 

 using his blue pencil when he was dealing with men 

 who were recognised authorities on the subjects which 

 they undertook. The war, which interfered with his 

 arrangements with foreign scholars, added much to 

 his anxieties, and the work must have come to a 

 temporary end if he had not been generously supported 

 by his publishers. He had planned a general index 

 of the Encyclopaedia, which will add much to its value 

 for the working scholar. It is to be hoped that the 

 scheme for the index was drawn up before his sudden, 

 untimely, and much regretted death. 



In the Chemiker Zeitung of September 28 the death 

 is announced on September 15 of Prof. F. Nobbe, of 

 the Forestry Academy of Tharandt, the founder of the 

 research station of plant physiology and the first 

 station for seed control. 



We notice with much regret the announcement of 

 the death on October 26, at sixty-six years of age, of 

 Dr. C. G. Knott, reader in applied mathematics, 

 University of Edinburgh, and on October 28, in his 

 eighty-fifth year, of Prof. A. Crum Brown, emeritus 

 professor of chemistry in the same university. 



Current Topics 



Much anxiety is felt in this country as to the 

 position and prospects of the Royal College of Science, 

 Dublin, under the Irish Provisional Government. By 

 a sudden decree, the college was closed on October 1 

 — a day before the new session would have opened. 

 It was announced that a bomb had been found in the 

 building, and this provided a plausible excuse for the 

 action taken. No students had, however, been 

 admitted to the college since June 30, and the circula- 

 tion of the rumour as to the discovery of the bomb 

 was known to be merely a means of suggesting that 

 the college was a centre of disaffection and that in 

 the interests of public safety it should be closed. 

 For a week or two afterwards the teaching was 

 carried on in buildings lent by the National Uni- 

 NO. 2766, VOL. I io] 



and Events. 



versity, but a second decree was made on October 16 

 ordering the students, about four hundred in number, 

 to enter the National University classes, an arrange- 

 ment against which both professors and students 

 strongly protested. A compromise may be effected, 

 but meanwhile the Royal College of Science is in the 

 complete occupation of the military, and no one in 

 authority will say that the building will be restored 

 to its original purposes when military necessity ceases. 

 It would be nothing short of a calamity if an institu- 

 tion in which so much valuable scientific work has 

 been carried on for many years should have its 

 activities abruptly ended to serve purely political 

 purposes. The college is unique in Ireland ; its 

 equipment cost more than 250,000/. and no other* 



