a deposit totally different in character and in significance from that described by us. MANCHESTER. August 13, 1919. OBITUARY. J. WILFRID JACKSON. JOHN HOPKINSON, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S., F.R.M.S., Assoc. INST. C.E. BORN 1844. DIED JULY 5, 1919. (PLATE X.) By the death of Mr. John Hopkinson English geologists have lost an excellent fellow-worker, and many of them (like the writer) a valued friend. Born at Leeds in 1844 John Hopkinson came south while still young, residing, with his family, for the greater part of his life in Hertfordshire, first at St. Albans, and afterwards at "Weetwood", near Watford, the home of his grandfather. Although engaged in business in London' John Hopkinson possessed a keen interest in every branch of natural science, and gave all his leisure to their study and advancement, devoting himself more particularly to the pursuit of geology, palæontology, microzoology, and meteorology. His love of open-air studies led him to associate with the members of various field-naturalists clubs, and his training and education in early life well fitted him for the management of their affairs, and he speedily became interested in the promotion and welfare of these societies which have done so much in the past fifty years to nourish the pursuit of science in this country. In conjunction with the late Dr. A. Brett he founded the Hertfordshire Natural History Society in 1875, and served it in various capacities up to the time of his death, being President in 1891-3. It was while residing in St. Albans that John Hopkinson took a prominent part in founding the Herts County Museum, where, at his own expense, he provided the instruments and equipment for the Meteorological Station. It was mainly on his initiation that "the Conference of Delegates" at the British Association was founded in 1880, and he served as its Chairman in that year and as its President in 1917. He did much valuable work for the Ray Society, being its Treasurer from 1899 to 1902, and its Secretary since that time. He published in 1913 a Bibliography of the Tunicata, and was part author with J. Cash and G. H. Wailes of a monograph on British As a partner in the well-known firm of J. & J. Hopkinson, piano manufacturers, retiring only a few years ago on the business being converted into a limited liability company. 2 An abstract of his address (presented on July 6, 1917) was given in the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE for that year, pp. 371-4. Freshwater Rhizopoda, of which three volumes have been already issued. John Hopkinson was one of the pioneers in the study of Graptolites and their zonal distribution; the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE (between 1870 and 1881) contains a valuable series of papers by him on this subject. He was joint author with Professor C. Lapworth of an important paper "On the Graptolites of the Arenig and Llandeilo Rocks of St. Davids", published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. xxxi, pp. 631-72, pls. xxxiii-xxxvii, 1875). He was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society in 1869, and served on the Council from 1884 to 1886. As a member of the Geologists Association he read papers and conducted excursions. He was a Vice-President of the Royal Microscopical Society, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society (1875) and served on its council (1908 to 1911). He wrote the article on the Geology of Hertfordshire for the Victoria County History (1888), and Hertfordshire Geology for the Jubilee Volume of the Geologists Association. In collaboration with I. Saunders he also wrote the article on the Geology of Bedfordshire. The Reports of the British Association contain numerous abstracts of Mr. Hopkinson's geological papers, but the full range of his versatile talents is best seen in the series of Transactions of the Herts Natural History Society, in which he published most useful annual reports from 1876 onwards, on the meteorology of the county with phenological observations, and papers on its land and fresh water mollusca, its birds and insects, on its scientific bibliography, and many other subjects. He was Chairman of the Watford Field-path Association, which has issued (by Stanford) a useful pocket map of the Watford district for naturalists and ramblers in this pleasant country area. In 1877 Mr. Hopkinson married Miss Kate Willshin, daughter of Mr. Thomas Willshin, of Kingsbury, St. Albans. He leaves a widow and two married daughters to lament his loss. His memory will be long held in esteem by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, who found in him an excellent authority upon all scientific matters in the county, and one ever ready to impart to others the knowledge he had acquired by careful study and trained observation. BORN PIERRE JOSEPH JULES BERGERON. DIED MAY 27, 1919. WE regret to record the death of Professor P. J. Jules Bergeron, which occurred at his residence, 157 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, on May 27 last. He was lately Professor of Geology at the Central School of Arts and Manufactures, President of the Society of Civil Engineers of France, and of the Geological Society of France, and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He contributed numerous papers to the Geological Society of France, and is chiefly known from his work on La Montagne Noire, Cabrières, and Languedoc. THE GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE IT NEW SERIES. DECADE VI. VOL. VI. No. X.-OCTOBER, 1919. EDITORIAL NOTES. T is with very great regret that the Editors find themselves compelled to announce to their friends and subscribers that a crisis has arisen in the affairs of the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, gravely imperilling its future existence. For some years past the Magazine has been conducted on an extremely narrow margin between profit and actual loss, and now, owing to a further sudden rise in the cost of production, the former trivial, almost negligible, profit will be converted into a considerable loss on next year's working unless some further economic steps are taken. The whole situation has been most carefully considered between Editors, publishers, and printers, and certain minor adjustments are suggested in connexion with business arrangements. As to these it is not necessary to enter into detail here. But these measures of economy alone would be quite inadequate to make up the deficit: some considerable increase of revenue is indispensable, and the only possible source for this is an increase in the price of the Magazine. The sole alternative is to cease publication at the end of the present volume. The Editors feel, however, it is hoped without undue egotism, that this course would be a serious blow to the science of geology, and after long and anxious consideration they have decided to raise the price of the Magazine as from January next to 28. 6d. per copy or 308. per annum. In taking this step they are compelled to rely on the loyalty of friends and subscribers, and feel confident that this trust will not be misplaced. The Editors venture to appeal most earnestly to present subscribers to continue their subscriptions, and to use every effort in their power to obtain fresh support, so that the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE may be enabled to continue unbroken its career, which it is hoped and believed has been one of usefulness and honourable effort in the cause of progress in geology. The Editors on their part will spare no effort to maintain the traditions of the past, and by strict attention to business to carry on the Magazine through the period of storm and stress, which is perhaps only of a temporary nature. Such is the present situation: the future rests with our readers. We understand that the department that was set up by the Ministry of Munitions early in 1917 for the development of the mineral resources of this country, in the first instance under the control of Sir Lionel Phillips, has been taken over by the Board of Trade, and will be continued as a branch of its Industries and Manufactures Department under the care of Dr. F. H. Hatch. DECADE VI.-VOL. VI.-NO. X. 28 "AFTER three years of anxiety and stress," says Sir Charles Parsons, the President, at the Bournemouth Meeting of the British Association, the meetings for the intervening years having been cancelled, the Association accepted the renewed invitation of friends and colleagues to Bournemouth for September 9-12, 1919. The President (after referring to the critical time of the meeting, when after the great upheaval the elemental conditions of organization of the world are still in flux) pointed out in what way the British Association could best assist in the great work of reconstruction and progress now lying before us. (1) By requisitioning and printing reports on the present state of different branches of science; (2) by granting sums of money to small committees or individuals to enable them to carry on new researches; (3) by recommending the Government to undertake expeditions of discovery, or to make grants of money for certain national purposes, which were beyond the means of the Association. [As a matter of fact it has, since its commencement, paid out of its own funds upwards of £80,000 in grants of this kind.] He proceeded to discourse on some of the developments in engineering during the period prior to the War, in engines and turbines, in Naval architecture, on tungsten steel, on gaseous explosions, on the science of war, the advance in artillery and aircraft, on soundranging and listening devices, and on electricity. The President referred to the problems of the future, especially on the relative cost of producing a given amount of electrical power from coal and from water-power. It is estimated that the average capital required to produce electrical power from coal is less than half the amount that is required in the case of water-power; but the running costs in connexion with water-power are much less than those in respect of coal. The cost of harnessing all the water-power of the world would be about 8,000 millions, or equal to the cost of the War to England. * SIR CHARLES devoted the penultimate section of his address to borehole projects (which he had studied in 1904). He proposed to sink a shaft 12 miles in depth-about ten times the depth of any shaft in existence. The estimated cost was £5,000,000, and the time required about eighty-five years, a period not often reached in one lifetime! One question raised was: would the rocks at this great depth crush in and destroy the shaft? Professor Frank Adams, of McGill College, Montreal, published some results of his experiments on crush-strains on rocks in the Journal of Geology, 1912, from which he estimated that in limestone a depth of 15 miles would probably be practicable, and in granite a depth of 30 miles might be reached. Little is at present known of the earth's interior except by inference from a study of its surface, upturned strata, shallow shafts, the velocity of transmission of seismic disturbances, its rigidity and specific gravity. Some attempt, he suggests, should be made to sink a shaft as deep as may be found practicable at some locality selected by geologists as the most likely to afford useful information. In Italy, at Lardarello, boreholes have been sunk, which discharge large volumes of high-pressure steam, which is being utilized to generate about 10,000 horse-power by turbines. At Solfatara, near Naples, a similar project is on foot to supply power to the great works in the district. It seems, indeed, probable that in volcanic regions a very large amount of power may be, in the future, obtained directly or indirectly by boring into the earth, and that the whole subject merits the most careful consideration. The FROM motives of strict economy in printing and paper on the part of the Treasury, the Annual Reports of the Keepers of the various Departments in the British Museum which accompany the Return of Receipts and Expenditure presented to the House of Commons have been reserved to a future and more prosperous time. statement relating to the British Museum, Bloomsbury, shows the precautions taken to protect the collections from air-raids, etc., in 1916-18, and the parts, still closed to the public, lent to the Registry of Friendly Societies. Precautions were also taken to protect the most choice specimens in Bloomsbury and in the Galleries of the Natural History Departments at Cromwell Road, but with the exception of the Northern Galleries of Geology all the exhibits in the latter building were open, and the public have been admitted on week-days from 10 till 4 o'clock. An exhibition of the boring Mollusca and Crustacea destroying wood and stone, and those attached to piers and ships below the water-line, has been arranged by Dr. W. T. Calman for Government and public information. Reports have also been prepared on Fishes valuable as food, and on the utilization of whale-flesh. The preservation of elephant seals and the reintroduction of fur-seals, also the acclimatization of the reindeer in South Georgia, are instances in which scientific advice has been afforded to Government by the Museum staff. MRS. HINDE has presented to the Geological Department the valuable collection of fossils, chiefly from the Silurian and Ordovician rocks of Canada, the United States, and Sweden, made by the late Dr. George J. Hinde, F.R.S., together with his unique series of microscopic preparations of rocks and fossils. THE Royal Microscopical Society have given 1,000 slides of samples of "oozes", spread over the ocean-floor at great depths, collected by the late Dr. G. C. Wallich, and an additional series from Mr. E. HeronAllen, F.R.S., with maps and charts. A LARGE collection of fossil shells and vertebrate remains from the Ameki cuttings on the Port Harcourt Railway, Southern Nigeria, have been presented by Mr. A. E. Kitson, Director of the Geological Survey of the Gold Coast. |