PROCEEDINGS FOR 1914 XI 



recognition with very considerable success. Throughout the stirring 

 debates which marked the re-constitution of the University of London, 

 his north of Ireland blood led him to rejoice in a good fight, nor is it 

 an exaggeration to say that he delighted to dangle his coat tails on 

 the ground and have someone step upon them. There was a quiz- 

 zical twinkle of his eye on these occasions that evinced his thorough 

 enjoyment of the situation. 



One move due to Dr. Alcock's initiative has had results of which 

 probably he little dreamed. As Dr. W. H. Willcox puts it* "It was 

 entirely through his devotion and energy that the Board of Education 

 was induced to recognize medicine as a branch of science entitled to 

 a Government grant for assistance in its teaching, and St. Mary's 

 was the first Medical School in England to receive a grant from the 

 Board." The other London Medical Schools speedily followed its 

 example. The result has been that giving this assistance, the Board 

 of Education has claimed the right to enquire into their facilities and 

 has — we think wisely — made its grant conditional upon thorough 

 equipment and training, with the result that under this active 

 supervision medical education in London is assuming a better and 

 healthier state. 



In 1905 Dr. Alcock married Nora, daughter of the late Sir John 

 Scott, K.C.M.G., Financial Adviser to the Khedive. In 1909 he 

 was granted the degree of D.Sc. of London University for his re- 

 searches upon the influence of anaesthetics upon nervous phenomena. 

 In 1911 he was appointed to the Chair of Physiology at McGill Uni- 

 versity in succession to Professor Wesley Mills who had resigned on 

 account of ill-health. While Dr. Alcock thoroughly enjoyed the 

 strain and turmoil of his life in London, it proved too much for him, 

 and the needs and future of his little family of four, led him to accept 

 the invitation to come to Canada. He was, indeed, already suffering 

 from the disease which brought his life to an untimely end, and it 

 was with the hope that complete change to a fresh and more in- 

 vigorating atmosphere might arrest his malady that he came to 

 Canada. As a matter of fact the change had the desired result; 

 his condition rapidly improved, and he found himself better and 

 stronger in every respect during the first year, throwing himself 

 heartily into the reorganization of his laboratory and the teaching 

 of his subject. But a most unfortunate accident occurred in the 

 summer of 1912, when spending his vacation in the Laurentians to 

 the north of Montreal. While climbing a mountain in the attempt 

 to stave off a large boulder which had become dislodged, his left hand 

 was crushed a nd several fingers were hopelessly damaged, so that 

 *St. Mary's Hospital Gazette, June 1913. 



