November i i, 1922] 



NA TURE 



641 



and physics, or for degrees in science — a task which 

 his wide knowledge, his unfailing good nature, his 

 geniality, his ready sympathy, and his infinite capacity 

 for taking pains, fitted him to discharge to the great 

 advantage of many generations of undergraduates. 

 For the last ten years he also held the office of general 

 secretary in the Royal Society of Edinburgh, where 

 the same characteristics found further exercise, along 

 with others which eminently qualified him for editorial 

 work. 



In Japan, with pupils such as Nag'aoka, Knott's 

 influence as a teacher soon became conspicuous, and 

 has proved enduring. His love of research was 

 infectious. The school of young Japanese seismologists 

 and magneticians, then in its infancy, owed much to 

 his example and encouragement. Along with Tana- 

 kadate, he carried out a magnetic survey of " all 

 Japan." His industry was untiring and the habit 

 of research, formed in his student days, never left 

 him. All his scientific work is sound and thorough. 

 His published papers, more than seventy in number, 

 cover a wide range, but the subjects of ferro-magnetism, 

 especially in its relation to strains, and of seismology, 

 continued to engage his main attention. His book 

 on the physics of earthquake phenomena, published 

 in 1908, is an admirable digest of the whole subject, 

 linking up the older with the newer seismology. His 

 last long paper, published by the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh in 1919, completed a series in which the 

 theory of earthquake-wave propagation is discussed 

 with much originality. 



Probably the best known of Knott's books is his 

 Biography of Tait (Camb. . Univ. Press, 1911). No 

 other disciple was so fit to undertake the difficult task 

 of writing the life of the master, for on Knott the 

 mantle had most directly fallen, and he, more than 

 any, continued to wear it. Tait himself, in a preface 

 to his collected papers, speaks of Knott as an adept 



in quaternions as well as in physics, and adepts in 

 quaternions have always been rare. Knott's grasp 

 of mathematical methods, his intimacy with Tait's 

 work and appreciation of Tait's genius, and above all 

 his affectionate comprehension of an often whimsical 

 personality, inspired him to write what is beyond 

 question an exceptionally adequate and deeply interest- 

 ing biography. More recently he organised the Napier 

 tercentenary (19 14), and edited the memorial volume. 

 Almost his last act was to pass for the press the final 

 sheets of collected papers by the late Dr. John Aitken, 

 F.R.S. 



An unselfish, modest, Christian gentleman, whose 

 life was a constant round of unobtrusive service, Knott 

 is mourned by many friends. J. A. E. 



By the death of Thomas Francis Moore the National 

 Museum, Melbourne, has lost one of the most valued 

 members of its staff. Mr. Moore had filled the position 

 of osteologist at that institution for nearly twenty-two 

 years. His work was of a very high order and univer- 

 sally known. As a link with the past, it may be 

 mentioned that Mr. Moore's father, Mr. T. J. Moore, 

 was for forty years curator of the Liverpool Museum, 

 and from 1865 to 1884 organised and took part in the 

 Liverpool Free Public lectures. Dr. Frederick Moore, 

 of the East India Company's Museum, well known by 

 his work on oriental Lepidoptera, was an uncle of Mr. 

 T. F. Moore. 



The Chemiker Zeitung of October 17 reports the 

 death, at the age of sixty-four years, of Prof. Lassar- 

 Cohn, who had occupied the chair of chemistry at 

 Konigsberg since 1894. His work was mainly in the 

 fields of organic and technical chemistry, and his text- 

 books were well known in English translations. 



Current Topics and Events. 



The following is a list of those recommended by 

 the president and council of the Royal Society for 

 election to the council at the anniversary meeting 

 on November 30 : — President : Sir Charles Sherrington ; 

 Treasurer : Sir David Prain ; Secretaries : Mr. W. B. 

 Hardy and Dr. J. H. Jeans; Foreign Secretary: Sir 

 Arthur Schuster ; Other members of Council : Prof. V. H. 

 Blackmail, Prof. H. C. H. Carpenter, Prof. T. R. 

 Elliott, Prof. A. Harden, Sir Sidney Harmer, Prof. 

 W. M. Hicks, Prof. H. F. Newall, Prof. G. H. F. 

 Nuttall, Prof. D. Noel Paton, Lord Rayleigh, Prof. 

 O. W. Richardson, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Dr. 

 Alexander Scott, Mr. F. E. Smith, Sir Aubrey 

 Strahan, and Prof. J. T. Wilson. 



It is announced in Science that Dr. S. W. Stratton, 

 director of the Bureau of Standards at Washington 

 for the past twenty-one years, has been elected 

 president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

 Dr. Stratton was professor of physics and electrical 

 engineering at the University of Illinois and professor 

 of physics at the University of Chicago before his 

 appointment as director of the Bureau of Standards 



NO. 2767, VOL. I 10] 



in 1901 ; he found the department a small office 

 employing three or four people, and from it he built 

 up the present department with a staff of about 900. 

 Commenting on Dr. Stratton's resignation, Mr. 

 Hoover is reported by the New York Times to have 

 said: "The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 an educational institution, finds no difficulty in 

 paying a man of Dr. Stratton's calibre three times 

 the salary the government is able to pay him." 

 It appears that it is impossible to live and to provide 

 for old age while at Washington on a government 

 salary, and for this reason it is difficult to induce 

 men of science to undertake responsible national 

 posts. 



Prof. A. Smithells' retirement at the end of the 

 present session from the chair of chemistry of the 

 University of Leeds, after thirty-eight years of active 

 work, will be a serious loss to the whole educational 

 world as well as to the narrower sphere of academic 

 life of the University in the progress and development 

 of which he has played so conspicuous and devoted 

 a part. His intention in retiring is to employ part 



