August 9, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



215 



the President in Mr. Schott's hands, and in 

 doing so he alluded in the following words 

 to the international character of the prize, 

 and to the catholicity of scientific work : 



' ' I have great pleasure in placing in your hands the 

 formal papers which convey to you the ' Wilde Prize.' 

 This prize, founded by an Englishman who has a deep 

 interest in science, has been adjudged to you by a 

 committee of eminent men chosen from the most 

 famous organized body of scientists in the world — the 

 Institute of France. According to the terms accepted 

 by the Institute of France in founding the prize, it 

 was to be given to the person from any nation whose 

 discoveries in physics or mathematics, mechanics, 

 chemistry or geology are most valuable, or whose 

 original researches in these branches of science have 

 been most successful. The prize has been awai'ded to 

 you for researches in the important field of terrestrial 

 magnetism. 



" I congratulate you and American science, and in 

 particular the Coast and Geodetic Survey (the scien- 

 tific organization of which you are a member), that 

 you have been chosen from all the world as the most 

 worthy to receive this great honor. 



" It is especially pleasant in this age when inter- 

 national relations are of high importance, when the 

 methods of modern applied science have brought all 

 nations, however geographically remote, into close 

 contact, to know that in science there are no inter- 

 national boundaries ; and no pleasanter proof of this 

 catholic spirit could well be given than this fine prize 

 — one of the highest that can be conferred by a scien- 

 tific body — founded by an Englishman, has been 

 awarded by a Frenchman and won by an American." 



Mr. Schott's ability and attainments have 

 been widely recognized by learned bodies 

 and scientific societies as shown by his 

 election to membership on the following 

 dates : 



1871. Philosophical Society of Washington, D. C. 

 (Founder). 



1872. National Academy of Sciences. 



1874. American Association for Advancement of 

 Science (Fellow). 



1896. Sociedad Cientifico Antonio Alzate, Mexico. 



1898. Washington Academy of Sciences (Founder). 

 Accademia Giocenia di Scienze Naturali, in Catania, 

 Sicily. 



The long list of publications bearing Mr. 

 Schott's name bear testimony to his untii'- 

 iug industry and his devotion to the interest 



of the service, which he honored as a mem- 

 ber and to the advancement of human 

 knowledge. Isaac Winston. 



GEORGE K. LAWTON. 

 In the unexpected death of George K. 

 Lawton, of the TJ. S. Naval Observatory, a 

 young astronomer of great promise has 

 passed away. The loss to American astron- 

 omy can be appreciated as yet only by those 

 who had the good fortune to know him in- 

 timately. He was born October 20, 1873, 

 and died at Washington, July 25, 1901, 

 after a brief illness of twelve days, of ty- 

 phoid fever; and was thus less than twenty- 

 eight years of age. Under the guidance of 

 his father. Professor U. W. Lawton, of 

 Jackson, Michigan, he had enjoyed from 

 childhood excellent educational advantages, 

 and in 1895 graduated in classics at the 

 University of Michigan, where he also pur- 

 sued advanced astronomical studies under 

 Professor Asaph Hall, Jr., at the Detroit 

 Observatory. He then spent a year in 

 post-graduate study at the University of 

 Chicago, where the writer had the honor to 

 be one of his teachers. He showed distin- 

 guished abilities in the studj^- of celestial 

 mechanics and of higher mathematics. He 

 was afterwards attached to the Observatory 

 of Yale University for a short time, occu- 

 pied mainly with work on meteors ; and 

 - then came to the Naval Observatory as one 

 of the regular computers. In 1897 he took 

 the degree of M.A. at the University of 

 Michigan. While attached to this Observ- 

 atory he participated in all the transit 

 circle observations of the past five years, 

 much of which has recently appeared in 

 the Publications of the U. S. Naval Observa' 

 tory, Vol. I., new series. Last year he bore 

 an important part in the observations of 

 the total eclipse of the sun, at Pinehurst, 

 North Carolina. More recently he took 

 a leading part in the reductions and re- 

 vision of the Eros observations of this Ob- 



