December 2, 1897] 



NA TURE 



109 



I 



Mj Bertrand, acknowledging a final cheque, that the monument 

 in Paris promises to be worthy of its object. 



It is noteworthy that rather more than half the entire sum con- 

 tributed has come from India, chiefly from the medical officers, 

 through Surgeon-General Cleghorn. It seems probable that 

 their great liberality was prompted by a sense of gratitude for 

 the good work done on Pasteur's lines in that great dependency, 

 such as Haflfkine's preventive inoculations against cholera, and 

 the efforts being made to cope with the plague in Bombay. 



I have the sad pleasure, if I may so express myself, of an- 

 nouncing that my old friend, that distinguished medical officer 

 and very gallant soldier. Sir William Mackinnon, late Director- 

 General of the Medical Department of the Army, has, by will 

 and codicils dated 1896 and 1897, after making certain .specific 

 legacies, including one of 2000/. to the University of Glasgow, 

 bequeathed the whole residue of his property to the Royal 

 Society, subject to certain life annuities. The proceeds of the 

 fund are to be applied by the Royal Society for the foundation 

 of such prizes and scholarships for the special purpose of fur- 

 thering Natural and Physical Science, including Geology and 

 Astronomy, and for furthering original research and investiga- 

 tion in Pathology, as the Society may think best and most con- 

 ducive to the promotion of those sciences and of original dis- 

 coveries therein ; such prizes and scholarships to be called after 

 the name of the testator. 



Copley Medal. 

 Prof. Albrecht von Kolliker, For. Mem. R. S. 



The^Copley Medal is given to one who well deserves the highest 

 honour that it is in the power of the Royal Society to confer. For 

 nearly sixty years past Albrecht von Kolliker has made contribu- 

 tions of the highest value to histology, embryology, and com- 

 parative anatomy. Though his labours have embraced so wide 

 a field, they have always been of a high order of excellence, and 

 have often been of far-reaching significance. 



His early histological discoveries were invaluable for the 

 systematic development of the cell theory. Of these I must, on 

 the present oc casion, content myself with referring to two : his 

 demonstration of the continuity between the nerve fibres and 

 nerve cells of Vertebrata in 1845, followed by his memoir on nerve 

 cells in 1849 5 ^nd his isolation in 1848 of the cellular elements of 

 smooth muscular tissue, together with his essay on the dis- 

 tribution of smooth muscle in the vertebrate body, and his 

 final demonstration of the existence of muscular tissue in the 

 walls of the blood-vessels, where its presence, although pre- 

 viously asserted by Henle and Sharpey, was at the time denied 

 by Arnold and many others. 



These are examples of the histological results achieved by von 

 Kolliker during the first ten years of his scientific activity. They 

 are of fundamental importance, and they have been followed by a 

 long series of other valuable histological discoveries. The whole 

 series show not only his power as an investigator, but the wide 

 range of his knowledge, and the eagerness with which he has appre- 

 ciated and applied whatever was new in the work of others. This 

 last quality is well shown in his various essays on the structure of 

 the nervous system, from his early acceptance of Remak's state- 

 ments concerning non-medullatcd nerves, to his work of the last 

 few years. • 



Prof, von Kdlliker's influence upon histological science is due 

 not only to his fame as an investigator, but in part also to his 

 skill as a teacher and as a writer. Every successive edition of 

 his text- book has been an important addition to the literature of 

 the subject. 



Among his embryological papers, that dealing with the de- 

 velopment of Cephalopods, dating from 1844, is still a standard 

 work, and figures copied from it are to be found in most modern 

 text-books. His memoir on the development of Amphibia 

 (1846) contains important statements on the behaviour of the 

 nucleus duiing segmentation, and on the formation of cartilage 

 and blood-vessels. The papers on the development of the 

 skull (1849-50), and the subsequent work on the part played by 

 the Rotochord and its sheath in the formation of the vertebral 

 column, must be mentioned as of fundamental importance. His 

 many later researches on mammalian embryology, which are 

 summarised in the various editions of his text-book of vertebrate 

 embryology, need not now be mentioned in detail. 



Although it is as a histologist that von Kolliker is pre- 

 eminently distinguished, his zoological papers are numerous and 

 important. Among his labours in this direction were his early 

 demonstration of the unicellular nature of the Gregarinidse, his 



NO. 1466, VOL. 57] 



description of the Dicyemidse, his memoirs on the structure and 

 development of the Hydroids and Medusce, and his later mag- 

 nificent works on the Alcyonaria. 



Many of von KoUiker's papers have appeared in the Zeitschrift 

 fiir Wissenschaftliche Zoologie, founded by him and von Siebold 

 in 1848, of which he is still one of the chief editors. It is 

 pleasing to know that, at the advanced age of eighty, he is still 

 able to prosecute with unflagging zeal his work as an investigator 

 and as a teacher. One of the reasons of his absence to-day is 

 his reluctance to leave his lectures. 



Royal Medal. 

 Prof. Andrew Russell Forsyth, F.R.S. 



One of the Royal Medals is awarded to Prof. Andrew Russell 

 Forsyth on account of his contributions to the progress of pure 

 mathematics. 



He is known principally for his excellent treatises on many 

 subjects of mathematical analysis. These works are not mere 

 compilations ; they contain original work, and exhibit great 

 creativeness of thought. 



The treatise on differential equations was immediately success- 

 ful, and established firmly his reputation as a teacher. This 

 was followed by a scholarly work on Pfaff^s problem and, later, 

 by the treatise on the Theory of Functions, the first in English 

 on the subject, and noteworthy for the manner in which the 

 parallel theories of Cauchy, Riemann, and Weierstrass are 

 marshalled. The appearance of this work is responsible for the 

 newly awakened interest in this country concerning the great 

 works on this subject of Weierstrass, Jordan, Klein, Lie, 

 Poincare, and Mittag-Leffler. 



Prof. Forsyth is, in addition, a prolific author on other 

 subjects covering a wide range of pure mathematics. 



Royal Medal. 

 Lieut. • General Sir Richard Strachey, F. R. S. 



The other Royal Medal is conferred on Lieut. -General 

 Sir Richard Strachey for his investigations in physical and 

 botanical geography, geology and meteorology. Two of 

 the most recent of these are recorded in his report, 

 published in 1888, on the barometrical disturbances 

 and sounds produced by the eruption of Krakatoa, and 

 in his paper in the Phil. Trans, of 1893, entitled 

 " Harmonic Analysis of Hourly Observations of the Temperature 

 and Pressure at British Observatories." These, while important 

 in themselves, were but the last of a long series of valuable 

 memoirs. He was the first to treat scientifically of the physical 

 and botanical geography, geology, and meteorology of the 

 Western Himalaya and Tibet, His numerous papers on these 

 subjects, dating from the year 1847, are published in the 

 yournals of the Bengal Asiatic, Geological, and Royal Geo- 

 graphical Societies, in the Royal Society's Proceedings, and in 

 the Reports of the British Association. 



Sir R. Strachey's scientifically annotated and very complete 

 botanical collections made in Kumaon, during his physical 

 survey of that province (in company with Mr. Winterbottom), 

 and in Tibet, at all elevations from 2000 to 18,500 feet, are 

 unique in value and interest, as being the first from which could 

 be determined the successive zones of vegetation according to 

 altitude in the mountains of any part of Asia. 



Sir R. Strachey is justly regarded as the founder of scientific 

 meteorology in India, whether by virtue of his early personal 

 labours in that branch of science, or for the zeal and energy with 

 which, during his long career as a member, first of the Govern- 

 ment of India in that country, subsequently of the Council of 

 the Secretary of State, he promoted the establishment of 

 meteorological observatories and stations all over our Eastern 

 dominions. Nor were his exertions in this respect confined to 

 meteorology, for there are few scientific institutions or publica- 

 tions now supported by the Indian Government which are not 

 largely indebted for their existence or organisation to his efforts. 



Davy Medal. 



Dr. John Hall Gladstone, F.R.S. 



The Davy Medal is awarded to Dr. John Hall Gladstone on 

 the ground of the great extent and value of his chemical 

 and physical researches, extending over a period of forty- 

 nine years. His first paper was printed in 1847, and his 

 last in the Proceedings of the Royal Society for 1896. During 



