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© 1934 Nature Publishing Group

APRIL 7, 1934 NATURE 523 
are characterised by a variety of algebraic treat-
ment and a wealth of illustrations and examples, 
but nowhere does technical manipulation outrun 
the geometry. The first of these, a provocative 
little book, appeared at a time when metrical 
systems alternative to that of Euclid were known 
only to the few. It is not surprising that such a 
teacher carried throughout his life the esteem and 
appreciation of his students. One of his most 
distinguished pupils, A. C. Aitken, writes of the 
critical time in his own student days when the 
University of Otago was temporarily without a 
professor of mathematics, and. how willingly 
Sommerville filled the gap by weekly correspond-
ence. The written solutions and comments went far 
beyond what was necessary for mere elucidation. 

Beginning in 1905, Sommerville wrote more than 
thirty original papers and notes which have been 
published in well-known journals at home and 
abroad. The first, entitled "Networks of the Plane 
in Absolute Geometry" (Proc . Roy. Soc. Edin-
burgh, 25) is typical of the sequel. The main 
theme is that of combinatory geometry, exem-
plified by a systematic investigation of "The 
Division of Space by Congruent Triangles and 
Tetrahedra" (1923) in the same journal, and 
extended to n dimensions (Palermo, 48, 9-22 ; 
1924). Out of this grew the work upon the relations 
connecting angle sum and the volume of a polytope 
in space of n dimensions (Proc. Roy. Soc. London, 
1927). 

Sommerville was ever ready to apply his special 
gifts to unusual examples, as in his analysis of 
preferential voting and a highly original treatment 
of the musical scale. He was also much interested 
in astronomy, and was one of the founders of the 
New Zealand Astronomical Society and its first 
secretary. At the Adelaide meeting of the 
Australasian Association for the Advancement 
of Science held in 1924 he was president of 
Section A. His was a life of unsparing activity, 
and the fruits of his work will abide. There has 
passed from Scotland one who had already become 
her leading geometer of the present century. 

H. w. TURNBULL. 

WE regret to announce the following deaths : 

Dr. James Mackintosh Bell, O.B.E., formerly of 
the Canadian Geological Survey, and in 1905-1911 
director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand, 
on March 31, aged fifty-six years. 

Dr. James Munsie Bell, dean of the School of 
Applied Science in the University of North 
Carolina, who has carried out important researches 
in physical chemistry, on March 3, aged fifty-three 
years. 

Prof. Arthur Ranum, professor of mathematics 
at Cornell University, on February 28, aged sixty-
three years. 

News and Views 
Caleb Whitefoord, F.R.S. (1734- 1810) 

CALEB WHITEFOORD, friend of Benjamin Franklin 
in the hey-day of the latter's fame, was born in 1734, 
at Edinburgh (the exact date would seem to be 
unrecorded). Whitefoord was the natural son of 
Col. Charles Whitefoord, himself the third son of 
Sir Adam Whitefoord, Bt., of the shire of Ayr. He 
died on February 4, 1810, at his home in Argyle 
Street, in the vicinity of Soho, and was buried in 
Paddington Churchyard. Graduating at the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh, Whitefoord sought London as 
the best field for the exercise of his varied gifts, chief 
among these being a faculty for satirical journalism. 
Eventually there were few literary, scientific and 
political celebrities of his period outside his circle. 
Intimacy with Franklin (they w ere then neighbours 
in Craven Street, Strand) led to the opinion that 
Whitefoord would make an eligible diplomatic agent 
for the purpose of assisting in the restoration of peace 
with America. Accordingly, he became secretary to 
the Commission which concluded peace with the United 
States at Paris, in 1782. He was elected a fellow of 
the Royal Society on June 24, 1784, when Sir Joseph 
Banks was president. A fellow of the Royal Society 
of Edinburgh, and of the Society of Antiquaries, 
London, he was a vice-president of the Society of 
Arts, and a member of the Philosophical Society of 
Philadelphia. Whitefoord's portrait was painted by 
Sir Joshua Reynolds in the eventful year 1782, and 

hangs in the National Portrait Gallery; a mezzotint 
of this by S. W. Reynolds is prized. A pleasing 
drawing (head and bust), by R. Cosway, is reproduced 
in the European Magazine for 1810. In 1790 White-
foord presented a fine portrait of Benjamin Franklin, 
by .Joseph Wright, to the Royal Society. Such 
interesting connexion with the Society is further 
emphasised by the circumstance that Whitefoord, with 
Count Rumford, signed, in 1801, the certificate of 
recommendation for the election of Warren Hastings. 

Industrial Research and the State 

MR. STANLEY BALDWIN, as Lord President of the 
Council, may be regarded as a Minister of Research, 
since he is r esponsible to Parliament for the Committee 
of the Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial 
Research. He is keenly alive to the possibilities of 
scientific and industrial research, and this attitude 
marks the message he sent recently to the conference 
of industrial research associations, reference to which 
was made in NATURE of March 31, p. 504. Mr. 
Baldwin confirmed his promise on behalf of the 
Government in replying to a question in the House 
of Commons on March 27, when h e said : 

"ABOUT two years ago, steps were taken by the 
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to 
ascertain the views of the Councils of Research 
Associations connected with the Department on a 


	WE regret to announce the following deaths