654 



NA TURE 



[October 22, 1908 



professus est. Rerum Naturae quidem studiosis non 

 !gnot;im est electrometron illud ab eodem inventum. 

 Etiam plurium oculis obversatae sunt imagines illae 

 pulcherrimae in quibus lucis auxilio et colores varii et 

 iuminis ipsius spectrum (ut aiunt) accuratissime redduntur. 

 Pcritioribus autem nota sunt volumina, quae ab eo et 

 audiendi et videndi rationi universae explicandae dedicata 

 sunt, quae et vim calorls et vim electricam modulosque 

 eius ordine lucido enuclearunt. In his modulis sollertissime 

 metiendis, iuvat recordari Cancellarii nostri cum rationibus 

 hospitis nostri liodierni rationes minutissime quadrare. 

 Ceterum de re tarn subtili non nostrum est hodie fusius 

 disputare ; oratoris vestri ex animo nondum excidit 

 monitum illud Horatianum : — 



" metiri se quemque suo modulo ac pede verum est." 

 Praesento vobis Francogallorum Instituti socium illus- 

 trem, Gaerielem Lippmann. 



(3) Etiam e republica maxima trans aequor Atlanticum, 

 nobis coniunctissima, ad nos advectus est vir insignis, 

 Washingtonii in urbe illustri mensurae et ponderis pro- 

 vinciae praepositus, qui pecuniae publicae summam in- 

 gentem sibi liberaliter creditam, et scientiae ipsius et 

 populi industrii maximo cum fructu, his rebus omnibus 

 ad normam accuratam redigendis dedicavit ; qui quantum 

 operariorum industriae scientiarum exquisita cognitio 

 conferat, luculenter demonstravit. Non inter antiquos 

 tantum sed etiam nostro in saeculo trans aequor Atlanti- 

 cum cognitum est, Mercuric, Atlantis nepoti, negotiatorum 

 omnium numini, Divam Minervam, scientiarum omnium 

 reginam, sororem esse omnium dignissimam. Animi 

 nostri fraterni in testimonium, eo libentius hodie salutamus 

 virum eloquentem, quem etiam ipsum Atlantis nepotem 

 facundum nominaverim, Samuelem Wesley Stratton. 



(4) Olim Altonae natus, a Berolinensibus educatus et ab 

 eisdem scientiae physicae ad cathedram revocatus, adest 

 sonitus in aere clausi velocitatis investigator clarissimus, 

 qui itineris sui inter comitcs insigniores etiam Cancellarium 

 nostrum numeravit. Idem rei magneticae phaenomena 

 ilia perquam impedita cxpedivit, quae Professor quidam 

 noster postea Hysteresis nomine nuncupavit. Denique 

 scientiae physicae Imperii totius Germanici Instituto cele- 

 berrimo praepositus, virorum magnorum successor magnus 

 merito esse existimatur. Inter Doctores nostros honoris 

 causa olim ■ Helmholtzium numeravimus : hodie success- 

 orem elus recentissimum ordini eidem libenter addimus. 



Doctorum nostrorum seriem claudit hodie scientiae 

 physicae honoris causa Professor Berolinensis, Aemilius 

 Warburg. 



A large number of specimens of timber, grown, many 

 under forestry conditions, on the Brocklesbv Estate, 

 Lincolnshire, has recently been sent by Lord Yarborough 

 to the forestry museum, which is temporarily housed in 

 ihe botany school. No fewer than seventy-seven species 

 of trees are represented in this donation. Although 

 forestry, as a subject of instruction at Cambridge, only 

 dates from October, 11507, the collection of timbers already 

 acquired is considerable, and includes both home-grown 

 and foreign specimens, some of which are extremely rare, 

 as that of the Servian spruce, an almost extinct species, 

 which is confined to the valley of the Drina, between 

 Servia and Bosnia. 



The Gedge prize has been awarded to E. Mellanby, of 

 Emmanuel College, for his essay entitled " Creatin and 

 Creatinin." 



Prof. Pope announces a valuable gift of apparatus and 

 chemicals which has been made to the university chemical 

 laboratory by the master and fellows of Gonville and 

 Caius Callege and the master and fellows of Sidney Sussex 

 College upon the closing of the chemical laboratories in 

 the two colleges. 



A conference of fruit-growers will be held at the South- 

 Eastern .Agricultural College, Wye, Kent, on November 27, 

 under the chairmanship of Mr. C. W. Radcliffe Cooke, 

 president of the National Association of English Cider- 

 makers. Insecticides will be discussed by Mr. Spencer 

 Pickering, F.R.S., spraying and spraying machinery by 

 Mr. E. S. Salmon, grading and packing by a representa- 

 tive from British Columbia. 



NO. 2034, "^'OI- 78! 



So.me two years ago the governors of the Sir Jolin Cass 

 Institute decided, in view of the great importance of 

 the fermentation industries and the fact that there was 

 very little methodical instruction available in London for 

 those who were occupied in breweries .tnd distilleries, to 

 institute a course upon the chemistry of fermentation, and 

 they appointed Mr. Arthur R. Ling to conduct this course. 

 They have now broadened the basis of the work ; and 

 over and above the laboratory course in brewing and 

 malting Dr. A. Harden will, during the winter, give a 

 course of instruction in the micro-biology of the fermenta- 

 tion industries, which will consist of lectures and demon- 

 strations. The first of this course was delivered on 

 October 6, when Dr. Horace Brown, F.R.S., occupied the 

 chair. In his opening remarks the chairman alluded to 

 the value of scientific research, and said that there appears 

 to be a considerable amount of misconception in the lay 

 mind as to the meaning of the treatment of scientific 

 research, and perhaps a still greater misconception in the 

 methods employed in furthering it. The popular belief 

 at present in vogue is that the scientific worker, in the, 

 first place, looks round for some great problem which 

 calls for solution, and then proceeds by a series of experi- 

 ments af trial and error to cut deep into the heart of the 

 subject. Occasionally this method, if carried out, may lead 

 to results, but he would rather suggest that research 

 consists in finding some loose thread in the frayed edge 

 of a piece of embroidery and in patiently following up the 

 slender clue wheresoever it may lead, thus gradually re- 

 vealing the elaborate pattern and the manner in which i*" 

 is interwoven. Dr. Harden in his lecture first traced the 

 history of the progress of knowledge with regard to 

 alcoholic fermentation, referring to the worli of Lavoisier 

 Liebig, Pasteur, and Buchner. Working with Mr. Young 

 at the leister Institute, he found that phosphates gradually 

 increase the rate of fermentation, a definite chemical re- 

 action taking place in which the amount of carbonic acid 

 exactly equivalent to the phosphate added is evolved, the 

 phosphate itself entering Into combination with the second 

 molecule of sugar. Finally, a short account was given of 

 recent work on the fermenting complex present in yeas*- 

 juice. Dr. Harden and Mr. Young consider this to consist 

 of two distinct substances — the enzyme and co-enzyme — thc- 

 cooperation of which is necessary to produce fermentation 

 when added to a solution of sugar and a phosphate. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, June 4. — " Note on a New Sonndinsj 

 Machine for use on Lakes and Rivers without a Boat.'" 

 By Prof. E. J. Garwood. Communicated by Prof. T. G. 

 Bonney, F.R.S. 



The sounding machine was designed specially for use on 

 mountain lakes and rivers where boats cannot be obtained, 

 but it can also be used with a boat, in which case it has 

 the advantage over the sounding machines usually employed, 

 since it registers the position as well as the depth of each 

 soimding. 



The instrument consists of two posts which are erected 

 on opposite sides of a lake or river ; between them a line 

 is stretched, the ends of which are wound on drums carried 

 by the posts. By alternately winding this line on each post 

 a float is drawn backwards and forwards across the lake, 

 the position of the float at any moment being autom.aticallv 

 registered on the post worked by the observer. The float 

 carries a pulley over which the plummet line travels, the 

 end of this line being wound on a second drum attached 

 to the observer's post. In this way rows of soundings can 

 be taken across the lake, one of the posts being moved each 

 time that the float reaches the shore until the whole lake 

 has been charted. 



By a mechanical device one counting machine Is made 

 to register both the depth of each sounding and the distance 

 from the shore at which it is taken ; it is also engraved 

 vrlth a double set of figures counting In opposite directions, 

 so that observations can be taken In whichever direction 

 the fl(>at is Iravellin.rt. The Instrument is supplied with a 

 check and also a stop brake, and mechanical devices are 

 provided to Insure the constant tension of the line, and 

 for preventing unec|ii.il piling of the line on the two drums. 



