872 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 234. 



these as 0002, or, possibly, 00021. There is 

 very little to choose between the two meth- 

 ods except as to the ease in writing, speak- 

 ing and printing. 



As to the classification or arrangement of 

 subjects, my personal preference would be 

 strongly in favor of a simple dictionary 

 catalogue. 



Cleveland Abbe. 



TEE STOKES JUBILEE. 



On June 1 and 2, 1899, the University of 

 Cambridge celebrated the fiftieth anni- 

 versary of the appointment of Sir George 

 Gabriel Stokes to the Lucasian professor- 

 ship of mathematics in that institution. 

 During the half century of his connection 

 with Cambridge, Professor Stokes has dis- 

 tinguished himself bj' a remarkable series 

 of investigations in the fields of hydrome- 

 chanics, physical geodesy, elasticity, the 

 undulatory theory of light, and pure mathe- 

 matics. His activity has continued down 

 to the present date, one of his most recent 

 papers dealing with the mechanical proper- 

 ties of the X-rays. 



The celebration of so rare an event in 

 academic life, and the eagerness of educa- 

 tional and scientific institutions to render 

 homage to so eminent a man, naturally 

 brought together a large body of special- 

 ists in the mathematico-physical sciences. 

 About 400 delegates and other guests were 

 present. Nearly all of these were en- 

 tertained either in the colleges or in tlie 

 homes of members of the professorial staff. 

 Thus was it made easy for the stranger 

 within the gates of this renowned University 

 to see much of its inner life and to enjoy in 

 the fullest degree its charming hospitality. 



The ceremonies began on the afternoon 

 of June 1st, with the Rede Lecture, delivered 

 in the Senate House, by Professor Cornu, on 

 ' The wave theory of light ; its influence on 

 modern physics. ' This was delivered with 

 admirable clearness in French. In the 



evening following a conversazione was held 

 in Fitzwilliam Museum, and busts of Sir 

 George Stokes were presented to the Uni- 

 versity and to Pembroke College (that of 

 Stokes) by Lord Kelvin. 



On the morning of June 2d the delegates 

 and guests were received in the Senate 

 House by the Vice-Chancellor and the dele- 

 gates presented the addresses sent by the 

 various academic and scientific institutions. 

 There were about seventy such addresses, 

 so that it was essential to dispense with the 

 formal reading of them in most cases. Pro- 

 fessor Stokes responded briefly and with 

 great modesty to these addresses, saying 

 that they made him feel that in his long 

 life he ought to have accomplished much 

 more ; but, he added, humorously: If I had 

 done more I probably should not have lived 

 to celebrate this jubilee. 



On the afternoon of June 2d the address 

 of the University of Cambridge and a 

 gold medal were presented to Sir George 

 Stokes ; and immediately thereafter the 

 degree of Doctor in Science, honoris causa, 

 was conferred on the following distin- 

 guished men of science : Marie Alfred 

 Cornu, professor of experimental physics 

 in the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris ; Jean 

 Gaston Darboux, dean of the faculty of 

 sciences in the University of Paris ; Albert 

 Abraham Michelson, professor of experi- 

 mental physics in the University of Chi- 

 cago ; Magnus Gustav Mittag-Leffler, pro- 

 fessor of pure mathematics, Stockholm ; 

 Georg Herman Quincke, professor of ex- 

 perimental physics in the University of 

 Heidelberg ; and Woldemar Voigt, profes- 

 sor of mathematical physics in the Univer- 

 sity of Gottingen. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 A Text-Book of Physics — Sound. By J. H. Poyn 

 TING and J. J Thomson. London, Charles 

 Griffin & Co. 1899. Pp. 163. 

 This is the first one of five volumes in 



