394 



NA TURE 



[August 27, 1896 



its clay a discovery of no slight scientific importance. 

 It solved in a very satisfactory way for practical purposes 

 of experimenting the problem of how to obtain a voltaic 

 battery of high electromotive force and moderate resist- 

 ance, free from the paralysing effects of polarization when 

 used to generate large currents for fairly long intervals of 

 time. The battery soon became a great favourite for ex- 

 periments involving heavy currents, such as the production 

 of the electric light by means of an arc between carbon 

 points ; and it was that used by Faraday in his electro- 

 optic experiments. 



From the age of twenty-five to fifty Mr. Grove, though 

 pursuing the profession of the Law, was actively engaged 

 in scientific work, and at a comparatively early age was 

 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Just fifty years 

 ago he was awarded a Royal medal for his paper " On 

 Certain Phenomena of Voltaic Ignition and the De- 

 composition of Water into its Constituent Gases by 

 Heat," which formed the Bakerian Lecture for 1846. 

 His papers are numerous and deal mainly with the 

 phenomena of the voltaic cell, and of electrolytic de- 

 composition generally. The subject of the polarization 

 of gases in particular occupied much of his attention, and 

 he discovered the well-known gas-cell, so interesting from 

 a theoretical point of view, and especially now as being 

 the forerunner of the modern secondary battery. Besides 

 these Mr. Grove studied electrical discharge, the effect 

 of light on polarised electrodes, and other subjects which, 

 investigated with the aid of modern appliances and 

 instrum.ents,have yielded a rich harvest of valuable results. 



The most active part of Mr. Grove's scientific career 

 may be said to have ended about the time of his presi- 

 ■dency of the British Association at the Nottingham 

 meeting in 1866. His presidential address was on his 

 favourite subject "The Continuity of Natural Pheno- 

 mena," and he had then the satisfaction of finding the 

 views he so early held now shared by all scientific 

 workers, and illustrated by a great mass of recent scien- 

 tific discovery. In 1871 he was made a Judge, and 

 shortly afterwards received the dignity of knighthood. In 

 1875 the honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred on him 

 by the University of Oxford, and was followed in 1879 by 

 that of LL.D. from the University of Cambridge. For 

 sixteen years he devoted himself unremittingly to his 

 legal duties, but in 1887, when he retired from the Bench, 

 his former scientific interests and activity, never extinct 

 by any means, in great measure returned. But at his now- 

 very advanced age arduous scientific work was impossible, 

 and his contributions to scientific literature were limited 

 to such lectures and addresses as his strength enabled 

 him to deliver. 



In the preface of his essay on the Correlation of Physical 

 Forces, SirWiliam Grove represented himself as standing 

 ■on the vantage ground obtained by the labours of others, 

 and therefore as able perhaps to see somewhat further 

 than those who had gone before. It is ever thus : the 

 men of to-day work more surely and swiftly because 

 such men as he have lived and worked before them. It 

 has been given to few to witness, as did Sir William 

 Grove, almost all the scientific progress of the nineteenth 

 century, and it must have well rewarded his scientific 

 spirit to see the younger generation enter into the labours 

 of the founders of the theory of energy with so much 

 eagerness and so great a promise of fruitful achievement. 



A. Gray. 



PROFESSOR HUBERT A. NEWTON. 

 A T the lime when the attention of astronomers is again 

 -^*- directed to the return of the nucleus of the 

 November meteors, the sad intelligence reaches us of 

 the death of Prof. Newton, of Yale College, whose repu- 

 tation is largely connected with the history of this shower, 



NO. 1400, VOL. 54] 



and who, perhaps more than any other, has advanced the 

 position of meteoric astronomy to that it now holds. He 

 thus rendered a great service to astronomy, and had he 

 no other claims to remembrance this would ensure a 

 grateful recollection. Prior to his historical researches 

 the observation of meteors possessed but a languid and 

 feeble interest, lacking that coherence and purpose which 

 method, founded on a suggestive hypothesis, alone can 

 give. The collection and discussion of the original 

 accounts of thirteen meteoric displays, all of a similar 

 description, and distributed over a period of more than 

 nine hundred years, demonstrated the permanent 

 character of the phenomenon, rendered prediction pos- 

 sible, and invited hopeful inquiry. The fact that he left 

 the inquiry incomplete scarcely diminishes the extent of 

 his service, since he showed that the problem came 

 within the range of celestial dynamics, and he at once 

 indicated the method and supplied the means which it 

 was certain would be effective in the hands of a master 

 of profound and subtle analysis. It is not necessary to 

 pursue the subject further, or to more than mention the 

 interest subsequently added to meteoric inquiry by the 

 discovery of Schiaparelli and others working in this 

 fruitful field; the impulse had been given, and the subject 

 of shooting-stars became vividly and permanently a 

 subject of astronomical notice. 



Prof. New ton's connection with the observatory of Yale 

 University has been long and honourable. Perhaps one 

 is not quite justified in calling him the Director of the 

 Yale Observatory, but his position seems rather difficult to 

 define as the Secretary to the Board of Managers, who 

 annually present a report to the President and P'ellows of 

 Yale College. For two years, 1882-4, he certainly held 

 the position of Director ; but he seems to have preferred 

 his old position of Secretary, leaving the head of each 

 department to make a separate report. There can be no 

 doubt, however, but that his was the directing mind, and 

 determined the character of the observatory. It was 

 while he held the position of titular chief that the helio- 

 meter, which in the trained hands of Dr. Elkin has proved 

 itself of such value, was mounted, and probably it was 

 his suggestion that the observatory should possess an 

 instrument of exact measurement rather than one of those 

 gigantic equatorials, which elsewhere in America have 

 appealed to the fancy, and satisfied the ambition of the 

 millionaire. Certainly he subscribed liberally to the 

 guarantee fund which ensured its use by a skilled 

 astronomer, and the work that has issued from the 

 observatory under his management, whether it be paral- 

 lactic inquiry or stellar triangulation, has amply justified 

 the expenditure, -and placed the institution in the front rank 

 of those devoted to extra-meridianal work. Not but that 

 the utilitarian side of astronomy has also been ardently 

 pursued at Yale. The distribution of time signals, the 

 testing of chronometers and philosophic apparatus have 

 long been a part of the routine work, and the observatory 

 has worthily striven to maintain a high standard of 

 workmanship. 



Prof. Newton's services to science are by no means 

 exhausted by the fulfilment of the duties of his chair or of 

 the direction of the observatory. He has held the post 

 of President of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, and been the author of many papers, 

 generally connected with meteoric or cometary astronomy. 

 More particularly may be mentioned his inquiry into the 

 capture of comets by Jupiter or other planets, in which he 

 has shown that the perturbing action of the planets on 

 parabolic orbits of every possible inclination to the 

 ecliptic tends to produce elliptic orbits of short period, 

 moderately inclined to the ecliptic and with direct motion. 



The Royal Society recognised the eminent services 

 Prof. Newton had rendered to astronomy by placing his 

 name on the roll of foreign members in 1S92. 



W. E. P 



