288 Scientific Intelligence. 



4. Kapler Tercentenary Celebration. — It is proposed to cele- 

 brate the tercentenary of the publication in 1614 of John Napier's 

 great works on Logarithms by a Congress, to be held in Edinburgh 

 on Friday, July 24, 1 914, and following days. The celebration is 

 to be under the auspices of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and 

 the President and Council now extend a general invitation to 

 mathematicians and others interested in this coming event. The 

 program announced shows that the celebration will contain 

 many features of great interest. It is planned to issue a Memorial 

 Volume containing the addresses delivered, etc., and a subscrip- 

 tion of £2 by individuals, libraries, etc., will entitle them to this. 

 Subscriptions and donations should be sent to the Honorary 

 Treasurer, Mr. Adam Tait, Royal Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh. 

 All interested in the proposed celebration are invited to com- 

 municate with the General Secretary of the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, 22 George Street, Edinburgh, and to announce their 

 intention of being present. 



5. International Electrical Congress. — The International Elec- 

 trical Congress is to be held at San Francisco, September 13 to 

 18, 1915, under the auspices of the American Institute of Electri- 

 cal Engineers. Dr. C. P. Steinmetz has accepted the Honorary 

 Presidency of the Congress. The deliberations of the Congress 

 will be divided among twelve sections, which will deal exclusively 

 with electricity and electrical practice. 



Obituary. 



Dr. Harry Rosenbitsch, emeritus professor of geology and 

 mineralogy at the University of Heidelberg, Baden, died at his 

 home, after a brief illness, on January 20th. He was, with Zir- 

 kel, one of the early founders of the science of modern petrology, 

 and his monumental work " Die Mikroskopische Physiographic 

 der Mineralien und Gesteine," the fourth edition of which 

 appeared (1905-1907) in four volumes, is recognized wherever 

 geological sciences are pursued as the authoritative treatise and 

 reference book in the field of microscopical petrography. 



The reputation he had attained in his subject, together with 

 his genial personality, and success as an instructor, drew, during 

 the active woi'king period of his life, many students to his labora- 

 tory from all parts of the world. Among them were many Amer- 

 icans who will be grieved to learn of the decease of their former 

 master. He was able to communicate his own enthusiasm for 

 petrological investigation to his pupils and through his published 

 works and his teaching he probably exercised a greater influence 

 over the development of the science than any petrologist of his 

 time. b. v. p. 



Sir David Gilb, formerly H. M. Astronomer at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, died on January 24, in his seventy-first year. 



Dr. Theodose Tchernycheff, the eminent Russian geologist, 

 director of the Comite Geologique de Russie and a member of 

 many scientific societies, died on January 15 at the age of fifty- 

 seven years. 



