468 



NA TURE 



[March 17, 1898 



of the University of London ; chairman of the Brown 

 Institution, with Burdon-Sanderson, Klein, Greenfield, 

 Horsley, and their equally distinguished successors 

 working as professors there ; one of the most prominent 

 Fellows of the College of Physicians, which was passing 

 through a critical period of its history ; and finally 

 President of the General Council of Medical Education 

 and Registration, of which he had been for thirty years 

 a member — Quain had his hands full. Yet he never 

 appeared to grudge his time to a friend in want of advice ; 

 and he was always keen and ready for the latest inform- 

 ation in science. He had little time for ordinary literature. 

 His nights were spent in writing — but in writing letters. It 

 is true that he projected and edited the great Dictionary 

 of Medicine with which his name is associated, and he 

 wrote a few of the articles in it ; but he produced — one 

 might say " of course " — no book of his own. He had no 

 patience for work of such a kind. Neither was he, nor 

 could he have been, a teacher. He was much too quick 

 in the workings of his mind to undertake instruction in 

 laborious fashion. 



Sir Richard Quain enjoyed the priceless privilege of 

 the close personal friendship of many of the leading men 

 of his time — Carlyle, Landseer, John Delane, Robert 

 Lowe, and many others, particularly men belonging to the 

 professions and the fine arts. He was a warm-hearted, 

 generous friend, who never spared himself when he could 

 be of service to others, particularly young workers at the 

 medical sciences. His position was unique — won entirely 

 by his ability and ceaseless energy — and cannot possibly 

 be filled by another. 



NOTES. 



The International Meteorological Conference which met in 

 Paris in 1896 appointed a permanent Committee on terrestrial 

 magnetism and atmospheric electricity, and submitted to the 

 Committee a number of questions for report. In order that 

 these questions may be well discussed, it has been decided to 

 hold an international conference on terrestrial magnetism and 

 atmospheric electricity in connection with the forthcoming meet- 

 ing of the British Association at Bristol, which will begin on 

 September 7. Letters of invitation are being sent out by the 

 Committee ; and all foreigners who propose to attend the con- 

 ference may obtain tickets of membership of the British Associa- 

 tion, free of charge, on application to the Assistant General 

 Secretary of the Association. Among the subjects to be dis- 

 cussed are : the calculation of monthly means, with and 

 without taking disturbed days into account ; the publication of 

 the monthly means of the components X,Y,Z, and the differ- 

 ences AX, AY, AZ, of the monthly means from the preceding 

 means ; the establishment of temporary observatories, especially 

 in tropical countries ; and the relative advantages of long and 

 short magnets. The decisions of the conference upon .these 

 questions will be reported direct to the International Meteor- 

 ological Conference. But though the first business of the con- 

 ference will be to report upon the questions submitted to them, 

 papers and communications on other subjects connected with 

 terrestrial magnetism and atmospheric electricity are also 

 invited. It is desired that such papers be sent to the Committee 

 some time before the opening of the British Association meeting. 



A NUMBER of Fellows of the Royal Society have expressed a 

 wish that a portrait of Lord Kelvin, who served as President 

 from 1890 to 1895, should be placed in the apartments of the 

 Royal Society, and a Committee is now being formed to carry 

 out this object. 



A Bill to amend the law with respect to vaccination was in- 

 troduced in the House of Commons on Tuesday, and was read 

 NO. 1 48 1, VOL. 57] 



for the first time. The Bill provides that glycerinated calf 

 lymph, the valuable properties of which were described in 

 Nature a few weeks ago (p. 391), shall be placed within the 

 reach of all, and that no parents shall be required to submit 

 their children for vaccination by means of anything but calf 

 lymph. Vaccination will continue, as at present, to be obli- 

 gatory ; but vaccination by anything but calf lymph will cease to 

 be compulsory. At present children must be vaccinated within 

 three months after birth, but it is proposed to extend this period 

 to twelve months. 



In the summer of 1897 a recommendation was made to the 

 Government of India in support of the establishment of a 

 physical laboratory in that country for advanced scientific teach- 

 ing and research. The Government of India has now reported 

 that the initial outlay on a physical laboratory of the kiiid 

 described would be 60,000 tens of rupees, and that they are 

 unable, in the present state of the finances, to entertain the 

 scheme. 



Magdalen College, Oxford, announces that a Fellowship 

 in Medical Science will be given by the College next October. 

 From the terms of the announcement it appears that on this 

 occasion the Fellowship will be bestowed merely for proficiency 

 in the sciences related to medicine, as tested by examination ; 

 but that original work in these sciences will be fully recognised 

 as a claim to distinction. The offering of this Fellowship affords 

 new proof of the interest which Magdalen College — that has 

 already done so much — still takes in the ad%'ancement of natura' 

 science. 



We regret to announce that Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S., 

 the distinguished metallurgist and engineer, died on Tuesday 

 evening. 



The eighth general meeting of the German Meteorological 

 Society will be held at Frankfort-on-Main on April 14-16. 



Towards the end of the year 1896, at the request of a large 

 number of distinguished men of science, philosophy and litera- 

 ture, Mr. Herbert Spencer agreed to have his portrait painted 

 by Prof. Herkomer, for presentation to one of our national 

 collections. The portrait is now finished, and will be sent to 

 the next exhibition of the Royal Academy. In time it is in- 

 tended to offer the picture to the Trustees of the National 

 Portrait Gallery for hanging upon their walls. 



We learn from Science that the New York Zoological Society 

 has secured the 100,000 dollars needed to enable it to take 

 possession of the site provided by the city for a Zoological 

 Garden. The total amount subscribed is 103,550 dollars, which 

 included thirteen subscriptions of 5000 dollars each. According 

 to the terms of the agreement between the Society and the city , 

 as effected last year with the Commissioners of the Sinking 

 Fund, the Society is under obligation to raise 250,000 dollars 

 for buildings and collections, of which sum 100,000 dollars 

 must be in the Society's treasury on or before the 24th of this 

 month, and it was agreed that the Society could not take 

 possession of the site until that amount had been provided. 



An Executive Committee of the Royal Zoological Society, 

 Dublin, has made an appeal for subscriptions towards the erection 

 of a " Haughton Memorial Building" in the gardens of the 

 Society, in recognition of the important services rendered to the 

 Society by the late Rev. Dr. Haughton, F.R.S., who for twenty- 

 one years acted as its honorary secretary, and discharged the 

 duties of president for five years. The form which the building 

 will take has not yet been decided, but the Council of the Society 

 propose that it should be one with a useful purpose. Sub- 



