594 



NA TURE 



[October io, 1907 



party at ten stations, including- nine nearly on a 

 meridian passing tliroug-h Darjeeling. The north- 

 most station, Sandakphij, was at a height of 11,766 

 feet. The results of this and similar future \vor!< 

 promise to be of much interest in connection with the 

 theories proposed to account for the observed large 

 deflections of the plumb line in India, and the deduc- 

 tions made as to the density of the material under- 

 lying the Himalayas. The observations at some 

 stations had to be taken in a tent exposed to tem- 

 perature changes, and one of the chief uncertainties 

 was the determination of the proper temperature cor- 

 rection. Considering that the value of gravity at the 

 base station at Dehra Dun — on which all the other 

 Indian values depend — is arrived at by assuming for 

 Kew the value 981200 C.G.S., it does seem desirable 

 that some British authority should exist possessing 

 both the apparatus and the scientific knowledge 

 necessary to determine the accuracy of such assump- 

 tions. In the meantime, practical geodetic science in 

 the British Empire has to turn for guidance and in- 

 spiration to Potsdam, Vienna, or Washington. 



Part iii. deals with the report bv Mr. J. P. Barker 

 on tidal observations and levelling operations. .\ 

 good many data are given as to tidal constants at 

 various stations, and there is interesting information 

 as to the degree of accuracy of the predicted times 

 and heights of low and high water. At the open 

 coast stations in 1904 the mean error in the predicted 

 times was only nine minutes, and the mean error in 

 the predicted heights was less than 3 per cent, of the 

 range; but in the riverain stations the errors were 

 nearly twice as large, and there seems room for im- 

 provement. 



Part iv. describes triangulation in Baluchistan, 

 while part v. deals with survey operations of a rapici 

 kind made with the SomaliL-ind Field Force. The 

 officer in charge of the latter. Captain G. A. Beazelev, 

 and his assistant. Captain C. G. Hunter, evidently 

 had a very stirring time. 



One of the duties of the tidal officers seems 

 to be the inspection of anemometers at tidal stations. 

 At first sight the following information re- 

 specting the anemometer at Port Blair is rather 

 startling (p. 91) : — " On November ig, 1904, the 

 velocity of wind registered . . . was 11 12 miles, 

 the greatest on record since December i, 1897, on 

 which day 918 miles was registered." The day is 

 rather an unusual unit of time for velocities, and why 

 the limitation ? There are other instances w-here the 

 method of presenting the facts might be improved 

 upon, but fortunately the absence of a good English 

 style does not necessarily imply a corresponding laxitv 

 in scientific accuracy. Another criticism that is likely 

 to present itself to many readers is that the season 

 1904-5 is becoming now a little remote. 



C. Chree. 



VRO¥. CHARLES STEWART, F.R.S. 

 r\N Friday, September 27, Prof. Charles Stewart, 

 ^^^ conservator of the museum of the Roval College 

 of Surgeons, died at the age of sixty-seven after 

 a few weeks' illness, following some vears of failing 

 health. " ' 



Prof. Stewart was a native of Plymouth, where both 

 his father and grandfather had been in practice. Fol- 

 lowing their example, he too entered the medical 

 profession, being educated at St. Bartholomew's 

 Hospital, and taking his M.R.C.S. in 1862. .After 

 some few years spent at Plymouth he returned to 

 London, upon obtaining (in 1866) the post of curator 

 of the museum at St. Thomas's Hospital. Later, in 

 1871, he became lecturer on comparative anatomy at 

 NO. 1980, VOL. 76] 



the same school, and in 1881 joint Jecturer with Prof. 

 John Harley on physiology. He also for some years 

 held the professorship of biology and physiology at 

 Bedford College. 



During this St. Thomas's period. Prof. Stewart 

 accumulated, by incessant work as a teacher and 

 museum curator, and mainly by direct observation, 

 that vast fund of biological knowledge for which he 

 was so well known, and of which he was so lavish to 

 all who came to him for help in their difficulties. In 

 the comparatively small museum at St. Thomas's, he 

 perfected his natural talent for practical museum work, 

 performing with his own hands all the processes 

 necessary in the preparation and display of anatomical 

 specimens, and gaining a thorough insight into all 

 the minutias of museum management. .'\t the same 

 time, the variety of his teaching appointments, em- 

 bracing anatomy, physiology, botany, and pathology', 

 effectually prevented him from becoming narrow or 

 specialised. Thus, when in 1884 the conservatorship 

 of the Royal College of .Surgeons' museum fell vacant, 

 through the appointment of Sir William Flower to the 

 control of the British Museum (Natural History), Prof. 

 Stewart was singled out by his practical experience 

 and wide attainments as Flower's natural successor. 



.Mthough during his twentv-three years of office at 

 the College of Surgeons Prof. Stewart supervised and 

 stimulated the growth of all parts of the museum, he 

 made the object of his special care the improvement 

 and completion of that section of the museum — " the 

 physiological series of comparative anatomy " — in 

 which are embodied John Hunter's philosophical re- 

 searches into the normal processes of life. For the 

 advancement of this great collection of adaptive modi- 

 fications. Prof. .Stewart laboured consistently almost 

 to the day of his death, adding or planning new speci- 

 mens, lecturing so long as health allowed, and finally 

 editing, and in part writing, the first few volumes of 

 a full descriptive catalogue. 



The year after his appointment as conservator he 

 was elected Huntcrian professor of human and com- 

 parative anatomy at the college, and annually until 

 1902 gave series of lectures that reflected the work he 

 was doing in the museum, and served as introduc- 

 tions, to the several sections of the "physiological 

 series." -At this time he also delivered some " Friday 

 evening " lectures at the Royal Institution, and was 

 Fullerian professor of physiology there from 1894 to 

 1897. In his own way. Prof. Stewart was inimitable as 

 a lecturer. He had an easy flow of language, delivered 

 with a persuasive eagerness that compelled attention, 

 and illustrated by wonderful free-hand drawings on 

 the blackboard. The combined result was a picture, 

 not easily forgotten, of interwoven word and line 

 animated by a charming personality. L^nfortunately, 

 his lectures were delivered from the scantiest notes, so 

 that little remains of his original researches except 

 some few papers in the publications of the Linnean 

 Society and in some microscopical journals which 

 give but a feeble idea of his real powers. 



Since 1866 Prof. Stewart had been a Fellow of the 

 Linnean Society, and from 1890-4 held the office of 

 president. He was also deeplv interested in the Royal 

 Microscopical Society, being one of its secretaries from 

 1878-82 ; and he was an original member, and for 

 some years treasurer, of the .Anatomical Society. He 

 also was an ardent supporter of the Marine Biological 

 .Association. In 1896 he was elected to the fellowship 

 of the Royal Society, and three years later was 

 honoured by the conferment upon him of the degree 

 of LL.D. hon. cciks. by the I'niversitv of .Aberdeen. 



In brief. Prof. Stewart was professionally a success- 

 ful teacher, a great lecturer, and a master of all 

 museum arts ; personally he was the simplest and 



