NA TURE 



[June 27, 1907 



gardens within the immediate vicinity of the metro- 

 polis." Both were strictly metropolitan institutions, 

 and both were essentially educational establishments, 

 differing' only in scope. Various exigencies have at 

 times modified, and even obscured, their primary 

 object, but each has, so far as circumstances per- 

 mitted, devoted itself to educational work. The ex- 

 tent and value of the services they have rendered, and 

 continue to render, in this direction are fully detailed 

 in the work under review. 



Kew, on the other hand, can onlv be termed a 

 London botanic garden in a strictly limited sense. .As 

 a national institution it has a much wider field, and 

 its activities are on a correspondingly broader basis. 

 Unlike the other gardens, it does practically no direct 

 educational work, but " stands out prominently as a 

 centre of botanical research, and as the cradle of 

 botanical enterprise in India and the Colonies." 



The principal aspects of Kew work are touched 

 upon, but the limits of space have compelled the writer 

 to treat them by way of illustration rather than ex- 

 haustively. No reference is made to the horticultural 

 or ornamental side of Kew. While detracting in a 

 measure from the completeness of the sketch, the 

 omission is the less to be regretted because of the" 

 growing tendency on the part of the general public 

 to regard this feature as fundamental rather than 

 incidental, and to look upon botanic gardens as 

 places of recreation rather than as scientific institu- 

 tions. Mr. Perredes's work, by directing attention 

 to the conspicuous part that the' London botanic gar- 

 dens have played in the scientific and material 

 progress of the nation, should go far towards re- 

 moving the reproach that our botanic gardens are 

 better understood and more appreciated abroad than 

 at home, a reproach which gains point from the fact 

 that the papers under notice were contributed to an 

 American journal, and are only available in this 

 country at second-hand. 



The work is well illustrated, and contains a copious 

 bibliography. 



THE NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY.' 

 'y HE recent discussion of the affairs of the National 

 ■^ Physical Laboratory in Parliament, and the ap- 

 pointment of a departmental committee of the Trea- 

 sury to inquire into the working of die laboratory, 

 with special reference to its alleged " competition with 

 private establishments," have tended to produce 

 amongst the nevyspaper-reading public an impression 

 that the institution was not being carried on satis- 

 factorily. It may be useful, therefore, to state in a 

 few words f\-hat is really the position of affairs. 



The laboratory was established in iSqcj to serve as an 

 independent testing authority, and to carry out re- 

 searches into the properties of materials which, while 

 necessary for_ the advance of the industries of the 

 country on scientific lines, are generally too extensive 

 and laborious to be undertaken by private individuals. 

 It was not anticipated that it would ever be necessary 

 to compete with the existing private institutions in the 

 testing of materials, but nothing in the Royal Society's 

 scheme on which the laboratory was founded limited 

 its testing powers. Once it was equipped and staffed, 

 the desire of industrial firms to have their materials 

 tested by men who had already made names for them- 

 selves in the scientific world appears to have led to 

 much work of this kind being sent to the laboratory, 

 and it is difficult to see on what grounds it could be 



1 The National Physical Laboratory Report for the Year igo6. Pp. 6i. 

 (Teddlnglon : P.irrott and Asbfield, 1907.) 



The National Physical Laboratory— Collected Researches, vol ii Po 

 I1 + 310. (N.D.) 



NO. 1965, VOL. 76] 



refused. Whether it is lo be undertaken in future or 

 not the Treasury Committee must decide. 



With regard to the research work of the laboratory 

 there can be no two opinions. .\ glance through the 

 two works under notice is sufficient to show how 

 well it is fulfilling its task. Dr. Stanton's work on 

 the resistance of iron and steel to reversals of 

 stress is supjjlying information urgently needed, and 

 with Dr. Carpenter's work on the structure of 

 high-speed tool steel and on the properties of 

 iron-nickel-manganese-carbon alloys is constituting 

 the laboratory the authority in this country on the 

 properties of the materials used bv mechanical en- 

 gineers. Mr. Paterson's investigations on light 

 standards and glow lamps, communicated to the 

 Institution of Electrical Engineers in January, supply 

 gas and electrical engineers with information of the 

 greatest value as to the relative merits, or rather de- 

 merits, of the various standards of light. Mr. Camp- 

 bell's researches on the properties of the paper and 

 cellulose used in telephone cables, on insulating mate- 

 rials suitable for high temperatures, and his hysteresis 

 research, all bear intimately on the electrical engineer- 

 ing industry, as does Dr. Caspari's work on gutta- 

 percha and balata. Dr. Harker's new bench-mark 

 1710° C. for the melting of platinum will serve as a 

 starting point for a revision of all our high temperature 

 melting points, and will introduce precision into a 

 region in which uncertaintv has been the prevailing 

 feature. His interesting work on the Kew temperature 

 scale may lead to Kew methods becoming inter- 

 national. 



The testing work of the observatory department 

 has increased, and the department appears now to 

 turn out " hall-marked " men, e.g. Wood, Simpson, 

 and Gold, as well as " hall-marked " instruments. 

 Two important discussions, by Dr. Chree, of terres- 

 trial magnetism and of atmospheric electricity re- 

 cords, and their relation to meteorological phenomena, 

 show that there is no likelihood of the reputation of 

 Kew as a place of research suffering now it has lost its 

 independence. 



The few investigations mentioned above serve as 

 examples of the work that is being done in the labora- 

 torv, but they tell nothing of the good influences 

 exerted by the laboratory through the members of its 

 staff on the councils and at the meetings of scientific 

 and technical societies throughout the kingdom. 



Although there will always be members of the 

 public, and even Members of Parliament, who are 

 unable to understand why any of the nation's money 

 should be invested outside the circle of " small profits 

 and quick returns," no one who is anxious that our 

 country should stand shoulder to shoulder with its 

 neighbours in the march of scientific and industrial 

 progress can feel other than gratified that in estab- 

 lishing the National Phvsical Laboratory we have 

 taken a step in the right direction. 



C. H. L. 



I 



DR. EDWARD JOHN ROUTH. F.R.S. 



BY the death of Dr. Routh on June 7, after a 

 period of graduallv failing health, a commanding 

 figure in the recent history of English mathematics 

 has been removed. Born at Quebec in 183 1, the son 

 of a distinguished British officer, he was educated 

 in London at University College .School, and subse- 

 quently studied mathematics under de Morgan at 

 University College. He matriculated at Peterhouse 

 in 1850, but did not drop his London connection, ob- 

 taining the gold medal in mathematics with the degree 

 of Master of .Arts in 1853, then a somewhat rare dis- 

 tinction. At Peterhouse he had Clerk Maxwell, who 



