William John Macquorn Rankine, a Scottish physicist, born in Edinburgh, July 5, 1820, died in Glasgow, Dec. 24, 1872. He attended scientific classes in the university of Edinburgh, and when 22 years of age published "An Experimental Inquiry into the Advantages attending the Use of Cylindrical Wheels." In 1843 he was elected an associate of the institution of civil engineers. In 1849 he publisted an investigation of the theory of molecular vortices, and was elected a fellow of the royal society of Edinburgh, to which in 1850 he presented a paper on the mechanical action of heat, especially in gases and vapors, published in 1851. In the winter of 1850-'51 he took up his residence in Glasgow, and in 1852 read to the philosophical society a paper on transformation of energy. In 1855 he was chosen a fellow of the royal society of London, and delivered a course of lectures on the mechanical action of heat in the university of Glasgow, and was elected regius professor of civil engineering there. He published "Manual of Applied Mechanics" (1858); "Manual of the Steam Engine and other Prime Movers" (1859); "Civil Engineering" (1862); "Useful Rules and Tables" (1866); "Cyclopaedia of Machine and Hand Tools" (1869); and "Manual of Machinery and Millwork" (1869).