Page:Prof. C. Michie Smith.pdf/1

 

, who died on September 27, was born on July 13, 1854, at Keig, Aberdeen. He studied at Aberdeen and Edinburgh, graduating as B.Sc. in 1876. He was appointed professor of physics at the Christian College, Madras, in the same year, and in 1891 became Government Astronomer at Madras. In 1899 he brought out the New Madras General Catalogue of 5303 stars: the low latitude of Madras gives its star catalogues special importance, since they serve to link the northern and southern catalogues.

Michie Smith observed the annular eclipse of 1894, and the total one of 1898 at Sahdol, obtaining some beautiful large-scale coronal photographs. He also observed the Leonid meteors in 1899, including 37 of the first magnitude (Mon. Not. R.A.S., vol. 60), and published an extensive record of meteors seen at Madras from 1861 to 1890. He also observed the Zodiacal light, and wrote the article on this subject in the "Encyclopædia Britannica" (9th edit.).

Regular meteorological observations were made at Madras, and in 1893, Michie Smith published those of the years 1856 to 1861. He also contributed papers to the Royal Society of Edinburgh on the eruption of Bandaisan, the determination of surface-tension. by measurement of ripples, and on atmospheric electricity and the absorption spectra of vegetable colouring matters. It was under his initiative that the mountain observatory at Kodaikanal was inaugurated in 1899, which has played such an important part in the extension of our knowledge of solar physics. He presided over the two observatories from 1899 till his retirement in 1911, when he was succeeded by Mr. Evershed. <!--

WE regret to announce the death of the eminent scholar and editor, Dr. James Hastings, at the age of seventy-one years. The various Dictionaries of the Bible published under his control have enjoyed much popularity, combining with the orthodox position the results of modern criticism. But his greatest work was the "Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics," the publication of which began in I9o8 and ended with the twelfth volume in I92I. Like all works of the kind, it is uneven, but to the student of comparative religion, ethics and philosophy, anthropology and folklore, it is of the highest value. Hastings was a model editor, quiet and unassuming, sparing no pains to verify a fact or a reference; he maintained the most agreeable relations with his many contributors, some of whom must have tried his patience sorely. His fault, if it be a fault, was excessive kindness and hesitation in using his blue pencil when he was dealing with men who were recognised authorities on the subjects which they undertook. The war, which interfered with his arrangements with foreign scholars, added much to his anxieties, and the work must have come to a temporary end if he had not been generously supported by his publishers. He had planned a general index of the Encyclopædia, which will add much to its value for the working scholar. It is to be hoped that the scheme for the index was drawn up before his sudden, untimely, and much regretted death.

IN the Chemiker Zeitung of September 28 the death is announced on September IS of Prof. F. Nobbe, of the Forestry Academy of Tharandt, the founder of the research station of plant physiology and the first station for seed control.

WE notice with much regret the announcement of the death on October 26, at sixty-six years of age, of Dr. C. G. Knott, reader in applied mathematics, University of Edinburgh, and on October 28, in his eighty-fifth year, of Prof. A. Crum Brown, emeritus professor of chemistry in the same university.

Current Topics and Events. MucH anxiety is felt in this country as to the position and prospects of the Royal College of Science, Dublin, under the Irish Provisional Government. By a sudden decree, the college was closed on October I -a day before the new session would have opened. It was announced that a bomb had been found in the building, and this provided a plausible excuse for the action taken. No students had, however, been admitted to the college since June 30, and the circulation of the rumour as to the discovery of the bomb was known to be merely a means of suggesting that the college was a centre of disaffection and that in the interests of public safety it should be closed. For a week or two afterwards the teaching was carried on in buildings lent by the National Uni versity, but a second decree was made on October I6 ordering the students, about four hundred in number, to enter the National University classes, an arrangement against which both professors and students strongly protested. A compromise may be effected, but meanwhile the Royal College of Science is in the complete occupation of the military, and no one in authority will say that the building will be restored to its original purposes when military necessity ceases. It would be nothing short of a calamity if an institution in which so much valuable scientific work has been carried on for many years should have its activities abruptly ended to serve purely political purposes. The college is unique in Ireland; its equipment cost more than 250, 000 l. and no other -->

No. 2766, vol. 110]