DECEMBER 27, 1918] 
wave-lengths by an ingenious method of utilizing 
the luminous rings formed by interference between 
two reflecting plates. Their researches have proved 
of fundamental importance: (1) In comparing 
accurately the wave-lengths of different spectro- 
scopic lines with that of some standard line. (2) 
In comparing directly the wave-length of the stand- 
ard line with that of the standard unit of length. 
This comparison has confirmed in a remarkable way 
the previous measurements of Michelson, whose 
method is less direct and more liable to certain 
errors. The independent confirmation thus ob- 
tained has therefore placed the subject on a much 
firmer basis. 
The Davy Medal is awarded to Professor F. 
Stanley Kipping. Professor Kipping has worked 
with distinction during the past thirty years on a 
great variety of problems connected with organic 
chemistry, involving fatty acids, derivatives of hy- 
drindone, camphorie acid and its halogen com- 
pounds, the 7-derivatives of camphor, racemism and 
pseudo-racemism, derivatives of quinquevalent ni- 
trogen, organic compounds of silicon, including 
derivatives having optical activity due to the asym- 
metry of the silicon atom. 
The Darwin Medal is awarded to Dr. Henry 
Fairfield Osborn. Dr. Osborn’s chief work has been 
in paleontology, and, in connection with it, he has 
organized many collecting expeditions to the early 
Tertiary rocks of the west. One of the results of 
his work is the more precise determination of the 
relative ages of the extinct mammals in North 
America, and that has led to a correlation between 
the order of succession of the Mammalia in Eu- 
rope and in.America. A good deal of this work 
was summarized in his book, ‘‘The Age of Mam- 
mals in Europe, Asia and North Amerieca,’’ pub- 
lished in 1910. In 1900 Osborn had come to the 
conclusion that the common ancestors of Probos- 
cidia, Eirenia and Hyracoidea would be found in 
Africa; and the correctness of this view has since 
been confirmed by Dr. Andrew’s discoveries in the 
Egyptian Fayum. Amongst the more important of 
Osborn’s contributions to our knowledge of extinct 
vertebrata are his memoirs on the rhinoceroses, the 
horses, the titanotheres and the dinosaurs. In 
addition to all the work he has done personally, 
Dr. Osborn has had a wide and most beneficial in- 
fluence upon biological research in North America, 
and he has produced a flourishing school of younger 
vertebrate paleontologists, 
The Hughes Medal is awarded to Mr. Irving 
Langmuir. Mr. Irving Langmuir is a distinguished 
worker in the physics and methods of production of 
SCIENCE 
639 
high vacua. He has studied the vapor pressure of 
platinum and molybdenum by heating fine wires in 
vacuo and noting the loss of weight. He has in- 
vestigated the speeds of chemical reaction of dif- 
ferent gases on various metals at very low pres- 
sures. He has investigated also the dissociation of 
hydrogen and its apparent abnormal heat conduc- 
tivity, and the dissociation of chlorine and oxygen; 
also the chemical activity of dissociated hydrogen. 
His work on the emission of electrons from hot 
metals in high vacua led to the evolution of the 
‘*kenotron’’ and ‘‘pliotron,’’ and of the ‘‘half- 
watt’’ lamp. His determination of the melting- 
point of tungsten is generally accepted. Much of 
his work, such as the investigation of the cause of 
blackening of tungsten lamps, is of commercial as 
well as of academic scientific value. 
SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
THE BRITISH MEDICAL RESEARCH 
COMMITTEE* 
Unver the regulations for the Medical Re- 
search Fund Major Waldorf Astor, M.P., Dr. 
A. K. Chalmers (M.O.H. Glasgow), and Dr. 
George Murray, professor of medicine in the 
University of Manchester, retired last August. 
Major Astor was reappointed Chairman, and 
Dr. Henry Head, F.R.S., physician to the 
London Hospital and to the Royal Air Force 
Central Hospital, and Dr. Noél Paton, F.R.S., 
regius professor of physiology in the Univer- 
sity of Glasgow, were appointed members of 
the Committee. It now consists, in addition 
to Major Astor (Chairman), Viscount Goschen 
(Treasurer), and Sir Walter Fletcher, M.D., 
F.R.S. (Secretary), of Dr. Addison M.P., Mr. 
C. J. Bond, of Leicester, Professor William 
Bulloch, F.R.S., Professor F. G. Hopkins, 
F.R.S., of Cambridge, Colonel Sir William 
Leishman, K.C.M.G., F.R.S., Dr. Henry Head, 
and Professor Noél Paton. Reference is made 
elsewhere (p. 579) to some of the chicf points 
in the annual report. We may note in addi- 
tion the statement that the committee has 
acted jointly with various government depart- 
ments or other bodies, either in appointment 
or in nomination, with a view to meeting par- 
ticular administrative needs demanding re- 
search work. The committee has in fact a 
1 From the British Medical Journal. 
