5i6 



NATURE 



[January 6, 191 6 



elected into the Royal Society in 1861, and served 

 on the Council in 1870-72, and again in 1881-83. 

 He was a well-read, scholarly man, of sound judg- 

 ment, and a shrewd judge of character. He was 

 never married, but was very fond of children, with 

 whom he was very popular, in spite of certain 

 peculiarities of manner and speech and little 

 affectations of dress — such as a passion for 

 coloured ties — amiable weaknesses which only 

 served to endear him still more strongly to his 

 many friends. He was an excellent teacher, with 

 a quiet dignity of manner, and a subtle appre- 

 ciation of humour, with a skill in parrying its 

 shafts, which effectively checked the efforts of the 

 potential Ben Aliens and Bob Sawyers at Guy's, 

 or the too exuberant spirits of the young 

 lieutenants of H.M.S. President at Greenwich. He 

 served for three periods — in all fifteen years — 

 as an examiner in chemistry of the University 

 of London in the old Burlington Gardens days. 

 His sympathy with young men, and his quick dis- 

 cernment of character and merit, together with 

 his experience as a teacher and his wide know- 

 ledge of his subject, were excellent qualifications 

 for the position, and he enjoyed the fullest con- 

 fidence of his colleagues at the famous round-table 

 in the old university buildings. T. E. T. 



NOTES. 



We notice the names of three fellows of the Royal 

 Society, all of whom are engaged in Government depart- 

 ments, in the list of New Year honours, namely, Dr. 

 Lazarus Fletcher, director of the Natural History 

 Departments of the British Museum, who has been 

 knighted; Col. H. C. L. Holden, assistant director of 

 supplies and transport, War Office, who has been pro- 

 moted to the rank of K.C.B. ; andSir W.Watson Cheyne, 

 who has received the honour of K.C.M.G. We do 

 not recognise in the list any names of men specifically 

 selected for honours on account of their productive 

 work in scientific fields, but the following may be 

 appropriately recorded here because of their associa- 

 tion with such work : — Knights : Dr. Adam Smith, 

 principal and vice-chancellor of Aberdeen University; 

 Dr. G. A. Berry, honorary surgeon-oculist to the K'ng 

 in Scotland, and formerly president of the Royal Col- 

 lege of Surgeons, Edinburgh; Dr. T. W. Parkinson, 

 author of works on cancer and tumour; Mr. M. Rees, 

 laryngologist to the King's Household and to Queen 

 Alexandra. K.C.M.G. : Sir James Porter, honorary 

 physician to the King. K.C.V.O. : Sir A. A. Bowlby, 

 surgeon in ordinary to the King. C.M.G. : Dr. J. 

 Cadman, professor of mining in the University of 

 Birmingham. C.B. : Col. C. P. Martel, superin- 

 tendent, Royal Gun and Carriage Factory, Woolwich 

 Arsenal; Mr. A. W.J. MacFadden, Chief Inspector of 

 Foods, Local Government Board. 



In reply to questions asked by Mr. Lynch in the 

 House of Commons on January 4, Mr. Asquith said 

 that every endeavour continues to be made to organise 

 and utilise all the available scientific ability of the 

 country in the most efficient way with the view of 

 coping with problems introduced by the war. The 

 NO. 2410, VOL. 96] 



activities of the scientific committees have been by 

 no means limited to criticism and advice with regard 

 to suggestions and inventions sent in from outside. 

 Mr. Asquith also said that a body of scientific workers 

 is definitely charged with the study of actual war 

 conditions, that is, to examine, devise, or invent 

 appliances which may be helpful to the Allies in the 

 field. 



The Government of British Columbia has presented 

 to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a magnificent 

 spar of Douglas fir to replace the old flagstaff which 

 was taken down in 1913 owing to decay. The sugges- 

 tion to present a really fine specimen of a Doxiglas 

 spar was made by Mr. J. H. Turner, the late Agent- 

 General for British Columbia, and was readily taken 

 up by the Premier and the Government of British 

 Columbia. This suggestion, made in the autumn of 

 1913, has now definitely materialised, and the spar, 

 which was loaded on to the R.M.S. Merionethshire 

 in August, 1915, arrived in the Thames at the close of 

 last year, and was moored in the river off Kew Gar- 

 dens on January 3. The spar was logged from the 

 lower mainland coast of British Columbia. The tree 

 selected measured 220 ft. in length, 6 ft. in diameter 

 at the large end, and 18 in. in diameter at the small 

 end. The log was loaded on a logging railway and 

 hauled ten miles to salt water, being taken by a tug 

 to Vancouver. There it was hewn to its final shape, 

 making it 215 ft. in length, 33 in. at the butt, and 

 12 in. at the top. Its weight is about 18 tons. The 

 spar was brought from British Columbia on the deck 

 of the Merionethshire, and its loading was accom- 

 plished with some difficulty. Its erection in the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens will be an operation of considerable 

 ftiagnitude. 



We much regret to note the death of Dr. George 

 Oliver, of Riversleigh, Farnham. He was a man of 

 very great ability and extraordinary energy. Although 

 for thirty-five years he was engaged in a very large and 

 exacting practice at Harrogate, he yet found time to 

 make most valuable researches on the circulation of 

 the blood. He was one of the first to take up the 

 question of the pressure of blood in the arteries, and 

 the instrument he invented for the purpose of measur- 

 ing the arterial tension in man was only surpassed 

 in ingenuity by his arteriometer for measuring the 

 actual diameter of the artery. He also invented an 

 ingenious instrument for measuring the amount of 

 haemoglobin in the blood. With these instruments he 

 made many important observations, which he embodied 

 in two works, " Blood and Blood Pressure " and " Studies 

 in Blood Pressure," works which were both of scien- 

 tific interest and practical value in treatment. Along 

 with Sir Edward Schafer he examined the action 

 of the extract of suprarenal glands and proved it to 

 be simply enormous. This observation is one of 

 fundamental importance in regard to the physiological 

 problem of how the blood pressure in the living body 

 is maintained in equilibrium. Dr. Oliver was a gold 

 medallist of the University of London, and Croonian 

 lecturer in 1896 at the Royal College of Physicians, 

 of which he was a fellow. He established the Oliver- 

 Sharpey lectureship at the Royal College of Physicians 

 in memory of his old teacher. Prof. William Sharpey, 



