io6 



NA TURE 



[May 30, 1907 



(3) Occasionally there are striking similarities in 

 the elements of two planets, e.g. 



r"\ c " ' ! 9, a 



(25!; Sophie ... 3-10 ... 009 ,. 10° 29' ... 157° ... go° 16' 



(sis) Magdalena.. 3-19 ... 007 ... 10° 33' ... 163° ... 80= 5' 

 The resemblance of the elements in the case quoted 

 is far closer than is reasonably probable, even for a 

 selected pair out of several hundred planets. We 

 however, are much inclined to doubt whether it is 

 more than an accident. .\ famous case of coincidence 

 IS that between the periods of rotation and revolu- 

 lution of the moon. Here there is a controlling cause 

 tending to produce equality, and the equality is exact 

 Now in the case of the elements of Sophie and 

 Magdalena, we suppose that there are only three 

 possible hypotheses :—(i.) accidental resemblance; 

 (11.) a cause tending to produce similarity; (iii.) a 

 common origin with no subsequent connection. We 

 may take as analogies :— (i) two watches that have 

 run down, but happen by accident to show nearly the 

 same time; (ii.) two clocks synchronised with each 

 other; (111.) two clocks, each constructed with the 

 same object of exhibiting mean time, but entirely 

 independent .of each other subsequently. Now as 

 regards (ii.), we may remark that in' the present 

 instance the supposed controlling force has done its 

 work very imperfectly. The objection to (iii.) is that 

 a common origin hypothesis can only be applied in 

 a few isolated cases, of which the above is one and 

 therefore we ourselves feel inclined to fall 'back 

 upon (1.), the hypothesis of accidental resemblance 

 although we fully admit its antecedent improbability 



In the early part of the book an estimate is given 

 of the total mass of the asteroids. It would appear 

 that the entire mass is very far short of a quarter 

 of the mass of the earth, very far short indeed of 

 the mass that would have been expected if a single 

 planet had filled the gap in Bode's law between Mars 

 and Jupiter. 



In a few cases approximate linear dimensions are 

 given, founded on measures by Barnard in 1894 

 _ We must congratulate M. Mascart on a very 

 interesting and exhaustive work. We regret how- 

 ever, the absence of a complete list of all known 

 asteroids with their elements. We should have been 

 glad to have seen such a list in several different 

 forms, with the small planets arranged in order of 

 mean motion, eccentricity, longitude of perihehon 

 and in the various other ways mentioned in the book! 

 It would have enabled us to follow the arguments 

 from statistics with greater appreciation, and the 

 value of the book as a work of reference would have 

 been much increased. The work admirably fulfils the 

 design of the author. 



.S/i? BENJAMIN BAKER. K.C.B., F.R.S. 

 CIR BENJAMIN BAKER, whose sudden death 

 •^ in his sixty-seventh year we recorded last week, 

 had a distinguished career as an engineer, and was 

 concerned more or less directly with most of the 

 great engineering schemes of recent 5'ears. By his 

 death the profession of civil engineering is deprived 

 of one of its leading members, and the scientific 

 world of a_ man who combined scientific knowledge 

 with practical training and experience. He was a 

 constant contributor to early volumes of Nature, and 

 his writings and addresses cover a wide field of 

 applied science. 



Sir Benjamin Baker was born in 1840, and for the 



last thirty years or so was engaged in the design and 



construction of important engineering works at home 



and abroad. He carried out numerous investigations 



NO. 1 96 1, VOL. 76] 



relating to the strength of materials and of engineer- 

 ing structures generally, and contributed papers thereon 

 to various scientific societies. He was the author of 

 " A Theoretical Investigation into the Most .Advan- 

 tageous System of Constructing Bridges of Great 

 Span," upon which plan the Forth Bridge and six 

 01 the largest bridges in the world have been built. 



His name will be remembered chiefly in connection 

 with the Forth Bridge and the great dam across the 

 Nile at Assouan. On the completion, in 1890, of the 

 former engineering feat Sir Benjamin Baker was 

 ir.ade K.C.M.G., and when the dam at .-\ssouan was 

 finished in 1902 he was made K.C.B., and received 

 at the same time the first-class of the Order of the 

 Medjidieh from the Khedive. Two years ago plans 

 were submitted to him for the raising of the .Assouan 

 dam, and since then he had worked more or less 

 continuously at the subject of stresses on dams. A 

 note by him upon the project appeared in the Earl 

 of Cromer's recent despatch respecting the water 

 supply of Eg\'pt ; and in it he stated that a design 

 had been evolved which satisfied all the theoretical 

 and practical conditions, and rendered the storage of 

 nearly two and a half times the present quantity of 

 water in the reservoir a simple problem. 



Though his name will always be associated first 

 with the famous works mentioned. Sir Benjamin 

 Baker took a ver\' active part in other great engineer- 

 ing enterprises in many parts of the world. He had 

 much to do with making the Metropolitan Railway, 

 and was associated more recently with the construc- 

 tion of the various tubes for electric traffic under 

 London. 



Sir Benjamin Baker was elected a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society in 1890, and in iSqi; he became president of 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers. Honorary degrees 

 were conferred upon him by the Universities of Cam- 

 bridge and Edinburgh, by the Irish .Academy, and 

 other learned bodies. He was closely associated with 

 the various engineering societies, and was actively 

 interested in the work of the British .Association 

 and the Royal Institution. He was a member of the 

 council of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 

 and an honorary member of the .American and 

 Canadian Societies of Civil Engineers, and the 

 .American Society of Mechanical Engineers. His un- 

 expected death will be deplored wherever pure and 

 applied science are studied, and his personal friends 

 have suffered a loss that cannot easily be realised by 

 those who did not know his broad interests and sym- 

 pathetic nature. 



NOTES. 



The Senate of the State of Pennsylvania has voted 

 70,000/. to the .American Philosophical Society to provide 

 a fitting memorial to Benjamin Franklin. 



Sir William Ramsav, K.C.B., has received through the 

 Foreign Office the Order of Commendatore della Corona 

 d'ltalia from the King of Italy, together with King 

 Edward's permis-sioi'i to wear it. 



-At the anniversary meeting of the Linnean Society on 

 May 24, the Linnean medal, awarded by the council to 

 Dr. Melchior Treub, director of the State Botanic Garden 

 at Buitenzorg, Java, was formally handed to Mr. Van 

 Royen, councillor of the Netherlands Legation, who under- 

 took to transmit the medal to Dr. Treub. 



Mr. -Andrew Watt has been elected meteorological 

 secretary of the Scottish Meteorological Society in 

 succession to the late Dr. Buchan, F.R.S. Mr. Watt has 

 since 1900 been closely associated with Dr. Buchan in the 

 discussion of rainfall and other important meteorological 

 problems. 



