576 Obitwary— Bedford McNeull. 
A distinction was made between cases in which the twin-axes are 
parallel or at right angles, and those in which they are inclined 
to one another obliquely. In the former the result of the combination 
is itself a twin operation, while in the latter it is a rotation, the 
direction of which depends on the order in which the operations 
are applied; it is in some cases combined with an inversion.— 
Dr. J. W. Evans: A Modification of the Kohlrausch Method of 
determining Refractive Indices. The observing instrument is 
a microscope placed vertically and fitted with a Bertrand lens. 
An immersion theodolite stage of the Klein type is used, so that 
the substance under investigation may be rotated beneath a liquid 
of higher refractive index about two axes, the first at right angles 
to the optical axis of the instrument, and the second at right angles 
to the first and to the plane surface of the object. This is observed 
through the natural surface of the liquid and rotated in either 
direction until the position of total reflection is reached. By rotation 
of the object about the second axis the refractive indices in all 
directions parallel to its plane surface may be determined, and the 
values of the principal refractive indices thus obtained.—A. Holmes 
and Dr. H. F. Harwood: The Basalts of the Brito-Arctic Province. 
The basalts from Hare Island, which were collected by Thomas Reid 
in 1855, include six varieties, of which four are free from olivine and 
carry silica among the amygdale minerals, and the remaining two 
contain olivine and are without free silica. All the rocks are rich in 
titaniferous magnetite, and analyses indicate that their most note- 
worthy feature is the unusual abundance of titania. The analyses 
cannot be closely matched except by those of basalts from Scoresby 
Sound, Iceland, the Farde Islands, and the west of Scotland. This 
paper is the first of a series in which the authors hope to describe 
rocks from all the important localities within the province.—Miss N. 
Hosalie exhibited models of crystals constructed by herself. 
OBITUARY - 
BEDFORD McNEILL 
A.R.S.M., M.Inst.M.M., Assoc. Mrmr. Iysr.C.E., 
TREASURER Grou. Soc. Lonp., Erc. 
By the death of Mr. Bedford McNeill, at the comparatively early 
age of 55, the mining world has lost one of its most distinguished 
men. Mr. McNeill took his diploma at the Royal School of Mines 
in 1880, and after considerable experience in various parts of Europe 
and America became famous as the compiler of ‘‘the Telegraphic 
Code”’ that bears hisname. He gave his time freely to the service 
of scientific societies, and besides being a Fellow of the Institute of 
Chemistry and a Member of the Iron and Steel Institute, he was 
President of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy 1913-14, and 
Treasurer of the Geological Society from 1912 until the time of 
his death. 
