SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



147 



George K. Lawton, of the Naval Observatory, 

 Washington, an astronomer of great promise, has, 

 we regret to hear, died from typhoid fever at the 

 early age of twenty-seven. 



Admiral de Jonquieres. — We observe the 

 death is announced of Admiral de Jonquieres, who 

 was renowned for his works on geometry. He was 

 elected an honorary member of the Paris Academy 

 of Sciences in 1863. 



Dr. Adolf Fick, late Professor of Physiology 

 at the University of Wurzburg, has recently 

 died. He was born in 1829, and held the chair 

 of physiology at the University of Wurzburg until 

 a few months ago, since 1868. He was the author 

 of some valuable treatises on medical physics. 



Dr. John Louis William Trudichum, whose 



death we regret to record, was celebrated for 

 investigations as to the chemical changes produced 

 in the human body by disease. These have been 

 of immense value in the study of medicine. Though 

 of German nationality, he was a Fellow of the 

 Eoyal College of Physicians of London, and at 

 one time lecturer on pathological chemistry at 

 St. Thomas's Hospital. 



Adolf Erik yon Nordenskjold. — Geograph- 

 ical exploration has lost one of its greatest sup- 

 porters by the sudden death of Baron Nordenskjold. 

 It will be remembered that he conducted an 

 expedition through the North-East Passage from 

 Europe to the Pacific Ocean in 1879. The "Voyage 

 of the ' Vega ' " has become a household word 

 among men of science. He was born in November, 

 1832, at Helsingfors, in Finland, his father, a Swedish 

 nobleman, being an ardent naturalist and chief of 

 the State Mining Department. It was while travel- 

 ling with him that his son Adolf founded the 

 taste for exploration and scientific investigation. 

 Whatever enthusiasm might have been possessed 

 by the father, it was in after-years to be eclipsed 

 by the celebrated son. The latter early became 

 an ardent collector and student. Like so many 

 others of similar character who in later years 

 became masters in the arts of science or leaders 

 of men, as a boy Adolf had no aptitude for the 

 reception of scholastic teaching, and the later 

 great erudition for which he was known was 

 entirely the result of self-education. Among his 

 earlier publications was " A Description of the 

 Minerals found in Finland " ; also " The Mollusca 

 of Finland." These were issued during a time 

 when he held a junior post in the Mining Office, 

 which he fortunately lost on account of some 

 youthful indiscretions of a political nature. This 

 led to his removal to Berlin, where for a year he 

 studied mineral analysis. He then returned to his 

 Fatherland ; but another political speech led to 

 his expulsion, when he went to Sweden, and he 

 was not allowed to return until after 1862, by 

 which time he was obtaining European celebrity 

 as a scientific explorer. Nordenskjold's name will 

 always rank with pioneers of Arctic exploration. 



Charles Meldrum. M.A., C.M.G., LL.D., late 

 director of the Royal Alfred Observatory, Mauri- 

 tius, died on September 4th, at Edinburgh, in his 

 eightieth year. He was born and educated in 

 Scotland. In 1846 he entered the Bombay Educa- 

 tional Department. Two years later he was 

 selected as Professor of Mathematics in the Royal 

 College, Mauritius. In 1862 he was appointed 

 Government Meteorological Observer, and in 1875 

 became director of the Observatory. On his re- 

 signation in 1896 he was succeeded by Mr. T. F. 

 Claxton, the present director. 



Edward Ward. — A well-known figure in Man- 

 chester scientific society was recently removed by 

 the death of Mr. Edward Ward at the age of 57 

 years. He was born at Coventry, where in his 

 early life he worked as a ribbon weaver. Having - 

 a natural taste for scientific investigation, he soon 

 became possessed of a microscope and later of a 

 primitive camera. His tastes quickly brought him 

 into association with others, which led to his 

 leaving the loom for the vocation of commercial 

 traveller. Notwithstanding the difficulties inci- 

 dent upon the constant change of locality when 

 thus occupied, he contrived while on his journeys 

 to study, dissect, stain, and mount thousands of 

 objects. Mr. Ward eventually settled in Oxford 

 Street, Manchester, in the neighbourhood of Owens 

 College, where he established a " University Science 

 Depot," which afterwards became much patronised 

 by the professors and students at the college. In 



\ 



Edward Ward. 



1887 he issued his first list of purely scientific 

 lantern slides, which gave an impetus to science 

 work in the district. He was one of the founders 

 of the Manchester Microscopical Society, and for 

 several years one of its presidents, and a lecturer 

 in its Extension Section. It will, however, be on 

 account of his photographic work that he will be 

 best remembered. It is said that he took no less 

 than ten thousand photographs of Geological Sec- 

 tions during the construction of the Manchester 

 Ship Canal, and also of its chief engineering- 

 features. To attain such a remarkable pictorial 

 history of that gigantic undertaking, Mr. Ward 

 used at least once a month to walk along the whole 

 course of the works between Manchester and the 

 Mersey above Liverpool during the period of con- 

 struction, which lasted beyond five years. In 

 addition to these photographs he has left a large 

 collection of other negatives of biological, botanical, 

 and general scientific subjects. The remains of 

 Mr. Ward were cremated at the Manchester Crema- 

 torium on August 28th last. 



