August 6, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



123 



To this great task EigM devoted natural 

 abilities singularly adapted to the needs of 

 his science in the period of his greatest pro- 

 ductive activity, when our views as to the 

 nature of electricity and of matter were 

 xmdergoing a fundamental reorganization. 



Eighi was a serious and well-trained thinker 

 brought up in the old school and one who was 

 too experienced to be led astray by brilliant 

 generalizations which lacked sound experi- 

 mental confirmatory evidence, and yet withal 

 he possessed in some measure those gifts 

 which we are most likely to associate with the 

 poet or with women than we are with a man 

 in an exact science — the gifts of imagination 

 and intuition. That these two qualities were 

 necessary in the building up of the electron 

 theory nobody wiU deny. They are possessed 

 by the living Thomson, Rutherford and a. few 

 of their co-workers and they were possessed by 

 the dead Righi, and his name will stand with 

 theirs in the history of his science. 



Augustus Trowbridge 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE CENTENARY OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



The commemoration of the centenary of 

 Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., who died on June 

 19, 1820, has been celebrated by the Linnean 

 Society. According to the report in Nature, 

 Dr. B. Daydon Jackson read the first com- 

 munication on " Banks as a Traveller," speak- 

 ing of his four overseas voyages — first, the 

 visit to ITewfoundland in H.M.S. Niger, on 

 board which his friend Constantine Phipps, 

 afterwards Lord Mulgrave, was a lieutenant; 

 next, the adventurous voyage of the Endeavour, 

 Lieutenant Cook commander, when Banks so 

 amply proved his value in many untoward 

 events; third, the voyage to Iceland; and 

 fourth, his trip to Rotterdam in 1773, when 

 he was still eager for an expedition to the 

 north. The second paper, by Dr. A. B. 

 Eendle, was entitled " Banks as a Patron of 

 Science." Banks's life from his return to 

 England in 1771 tmtil its close in 1820 was 

 that of an enthusiastic, liberal, and generally 

 far-sighted patron of science. A friendship 



began with King George, which steadily in- 

 creased, and Banks was consulted on im- 

 portant matters of very various kinds. He 

 became botanical adviser to the King in 

 relation to the Royal Grardens at Kew, which 

 developed under Banks's guidance, becoming 

 the repository of plants of economic and 

 ornamental value from all parts of the world. 

 Banks initiated or encouraged voyages of ex- 

 ploration, and kept up an extensive corre- 

 spondence with men interested in science 

 overseas. His house in Soho Square was the 

 rendezvous of students and men of all classes 

 interested in schemes of philanthropy or 

 science ; his magnificent library and herbarium 

 were at the service of other workers, and after 

 his death were bequeathed to the British 

 Museum. For forty-two years he was presi- 

 dent of the Royal Society. He was very 

 closely, though indirectly, associated with the 

 origin of the Linnean Society. Mr. James 

 Britten, in the third pajier, began by re- 

 marking that much of his paper was based 

 upon the daily use of Banksian specimens 

 for nearly half a century in the British 

 Museum. The author showed that the popu- 

 lar belief that Banks left all his botanic work 

 to his secretaries and curators, Solander and 

 Dryander, was a mistaken one, and that 

 Banks displayed great botanic acquirements. 

 The president remarked that official records 

 of the British Museum testified to the active 

 interest taken by Banks in all matters con- 

 nected with its advancement, and that keepers 

 and trustees alike referred to him for his 

 advice and decision. Certain objects closely 

 connected with Banks were exhibited. 



THE EPIDEMIC OF INFLUENZA IN ENGLAND 



A FURTHER report on the great influenza epi- 

 demic has been issued by the Registrar-Gen- 

 eral. According to the abstract in the London 

 Times the report states that tie deaths allo- 

 cated to influenza during 1918 numbered 112,- 

 329, the males being 53,883 and the females 

 58,446. The males included 7,591 non-civil- 

 ians, and, deducting these, the deaths of civil- 

 ians corresponded to a mortality of 3,129 per 

 1,000,000 civilian population. 



