September 29, 1923] 



NATURE 



481 



and his domestic animals becomes more remote — the 

 gradual restoration of the original flora and fauna, the 

 re-conquest of pasture by forest^ and so on. By the 

 work of successive generations of investigators, it will be 

 possible to follow the truly natural successions and 

 changes occurring within the area, and to study in 

 detail the natural relations between soil, climate, and 

 organisms. The safeguarding from interference by man 

 and beast will also be utilised to study the slow secular 

 changes of land and water. In this unique laboratory, 

 khe naturaHsts of Switzerland will find themselves 

 : united in a common work. Maintenance expenses, 

 such as the wages of the four park keepers and the 

 upkeep of roads and huts, as well as the cost of the 

 scientific investigations, are provided by the Schweizer- 

 ische Bund fiir Naturschutz, an association which at 



the present time numbers more than 30,000 members .^ 

 Thus the Swiss National Park is a commonwealth 

 in which alpine Nature can recover and develop undis- 

 turbed : a refuge, a sanctuary for plant and animal 

 life. It is an island of primeval Nature, unaffected by 

 the devastating waves of human civilisation which 

 break about its shores. During visits to this Nature 

 reserve one cannot fail to be impressed by the grandeur 

 of the scenery and the wealth of plant and animal life. 

 But still deeper is the feeling of patriotic pride that a 

 whole nation is pledged to preserve this fragment of primi- 

 tive Helvetia, unexploited for purposes of material gain, 

 as a heritage for generations yet unborn. It is a piece of 

 idealism especially valuable in this materialistic world. 



* The annual membership subscription is 2 francs, life membership 50 

 francs. Foreign members are welcomed ; any one wishing to join is invited 

 to communicate with Dr. St. Brunies, SekretSr des Naturschutzbundes, 

 Basel, Oberalpstrasse 11. 



Obituary. 



Dr. E. F. Bashford, O.B.E. 



A N outstanding figure in cancer research has been 

 ^^ removed by the death, from heart failure, of Dr. 

 Ernest Francis Bashford. After a most distinguished 

 ^medical career at the University of Edinburgh, he 

 )ursued laboratory investigations in Germany, especi- 

 ally under Ehrlich, and became assistant to Sir Thomas 

 fFraser in pharmacology. Even in the short time he 

 ^spent in that laboratory, he enriched pharmacology 

 ^by a memorable contribution on the antagonism of 

 ^tropine and morphine. 

 Wheh the organisation now known as the Imperial 

 incer Research Fund was started in 1902, the com- 

 ittee appointed Bashford as general superintendent 

 id director of the laboratories. So well was the 

 jnfidence of the committee justified that in a few 

 lears his researches were known all over the world, 

 tnd the laboratory, housed originally in the upper 

 floors of the College of Surgeons' hall on Victoria Em- 

 bankment, was recognised by all as the leading institute 

 in the world for the experimental study of cancer. 

 The position achieved was the outcome of intense work 

 by a brilliant staff of colleagues inspired and directed 

 by a forceful, imaginative, and tireless personality. 

 The memorandum of proposed research submitted to 

 tlie committee by Bashford at the commencement is 

 still on record and demonstrates how surprisingly he, 

 young man with little previous acquaintance with the 

 ■ loblems and quite inexperienced in the responsibilities 

 ! an institute, had grasped the essential fact that 

 incer must be studied as a problem in comparative 

 l)iology. The exact statistical investigations of cancer 

 in human beings in Great Britain and the collection of 

 ports of its occurrence in civilised and uncivilised 

 i.ices early occupied his attention, and his writings 

 proved convincingly that the incidence of the disease 

 luld not be correlated with many of the factors that 

 iipressed, and still impress, the imagination of the 

 uninitiated. When there was added to this the study 

 of the zoological distribution of cancer, the insistence 

 on the breadth of the problem became obvious. 



The first real advance in the biological study originated 

 from the discovery by Jensen of the transplantability 

 of a mouse carcinoma. The avenues thus opened up 



NO. 2813, VOL. 112] 



were enthusiastically explored, and there followed in 

 rapid succession contributions dealing with the c}i;ology 

 of malignant new growths, the source of their cellular 

 constituents, the specific reactions of the host, the 

 induction of artificial resistance to growths, the study 

 of refractoriness or susceptibility, the demonstration 

 of the essential similarity of malignant neoplasms 

 throughout the animal kingdom, biochemical investiga- 

 tions of great importance, and a host of other observa- 

 tions over the whole field which may be found in the 

 first five Scientific Reports of the Imperial Cancer 

 Research Fund published under Bashford's direction. 

 Ill-health compelled him to resign his appointment in 

 1914. During the War he served in the Army in 

 France as a pathologist, and was at the time of his 

 death adviser in pathology to the British Forces on 

 the Rhine. His work marks the beginning of the era 

 of the scientific study of cancer in Great Britain. 



Archibald Leitch. 



Lord Morley, O.M., F.R.S. 



Lord Morley, whose death on September 23, at 

 eighty- four years of age, we regret to record, was a great 

 statesman and intellectual leader, the memory of whose 

 work and noble character will long be cherished. As a 

 writer on literary, historical, and biographical subjects, 

 he covered a wide field in a style at once delightful and 

 stimulating, and in the field of public life he preserved 

 the best traditions of sincerity and truth. Though 

 Lord Morley was not directly concerned with scientific 

 research, he was sympathetic towards it, and was elected 

 a fellow of the Royal Society in 1892 under the rule 

 which permits the Council to nominate for election 

 persons who " either have rendered conspicuous service 

 to the cause of science, or are such that their election 

 would be of signal benefit to the Society." He was a 

 trustee of the British Museum, 1 894-1 921, chancellor 

 of the University of Manchester from 1908 until last 

 March, and one of the first members of the Order of 

 Merit created by King Edward VII. in 1902. Lord 

 Morley was made an honorary LL.D. of the Universities 

 of Glasgow, 1879, Cambridge, 1892, St. Andrews, 1902, 

 and Edinburgh, 1904, and an honorary D.C.L. of 

 Oxford in 1896. 



