February 3, 19 16] 



NATURE 



627 



Temple, Sir F. Treves, Sir Thomas Barlow and 

 other disting-uished physicians. Sir Edward Fry, 

 and Sir Harry Johnston, by Dr. A. E. Shipley 

 and Dr. Gregory Foster, by Mrs. Creighton and 

 Mrs. J. R. Green, by Messrs. Halsey Ricardo, 

 Walter Sichel, and Frank Brangwyn, as well as 

 by a number of distinguished people more imme- 

 diately connected with museums of art or science. 

 The dubious economy of the proposal was well 

 brought out in letters by Mr. G. W. Prothero 

 and a "Past President of the Museums Associa- 

 tion." 



In a few cases the writers attempted to over- 

 come difficulties which really do not exist. The 

 claim that the closing alone will effect a saving of 

 50,000/. cannot be maintained in the light of Lord 

 Morley's figure of only a little more than 2000/. 

 for the huge Natural History Museum. The idea 

 that the galleries of this museum could be used 

 for clerical work was, we believe, suggested some 

 time ago, but presumably found impracticable. 

 Many suspect a reason in the greater safety of 

 the collections ; but this was attended to long 

 since, and the removal of the more valuable 

 objects from the public galleries of various 

 museums has not impaired their educational 

 activities ; indeed, the contrary has been main- 

 tained. The idea that a number of active young 

 men are still at work in these establishments is 

 on a par with the myth of the policemen of mili- 

 tary age. No body of men rushed more readily to 

 the colours, and we do not believe that one is left 

 to be compelled. If convalescent soldiers were 

 employed to watch the galleries they would only 

 release veterans who are, or soon wilj be, candi- 

 dates for Chelsea Hospital ; far better let the 

 commissionaires, who perform their duties so 

 admirably, stay where they are, and employ the 

 convalescents elsewhere. One offer, however, 

 might well be accepted : if there are competent 

 people willing to help with demonstrations in the 

 galleries, by all means let them. Even if red 

 tape delays an official welcome, there is nothing 

 to prevent them from organising small parties 

 on their own initiative, and so doing a really 

 useful work. Such aid would at all times be 

 valuable on Sunday afternoons. 



The Government may withdraw, but have our 

 rulers learned their lesson? Do they understand 

 that, instead of suppressing museums, they should 

 utilise them? And the museum-people in their 

 turn — possibly if some of them were a little more 

 ready to adapt their exhibitions to the necessities 

 of the time, no Government would dream of 

 dispensing with such potent allies. 



SIR CLEMENTS ROBERT MARKHAM, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S. 



JUST the accident of setting his bed alight with 

 a candle, and the shock resulting from his 

 effort to subdue the flames, led to the death of Sir 

 Clements Markham on the evening of Sunday last, 

 January 30, at his residence in Eccleston Square, 

 London. 



NO. 2414, VOL. 96] 



Sir Clements was in his eighty-sixth year, and 

 although intellectually vigorous he had been a 

 sufferer from gout for some years past, and was 

 frequently confined to his room, where his active 

 mind was ever engaged in those literary researches 

 in the field of geography the results of which are 

 so well and so widely known. He was a member 

 of a good old northern family ; his great-grand- 

 father (not his grandfather as stated in the Times) 

 was Archbishop of York, and at one time Head- 

 master of Westminster School, a fact which 

 accounts for the deep interest in that school which 

 was maintained by Sir Clements during his life- 

 time. His grandfather was William Markham, 

 private secretary to Warren Hastings and resident 

 at Benares, who stood in the same relationship to 

 Admiral Sir Albert Hastings Markham as to Sir 

 Clements. 



Sir Clements Markham was born at Stilling- 

 fleet in Yorkshire, his father (Rev. David Mark- 

 ham) being vicar of that parish and Canon of 

 Windsor, His mother was a Milner. The Mark- 

 hams were a naval family, and young Clements 

 followed the family profession, entering the Ser- 

 vice in 1844 and retiring as a lieutenant in 1852. 

 His early experiences as a sailor coloured his 

 scientific outlook during his whole career. He was 

 a devoted friend to the sailor, and this devotion 

 led to an enthusiastic support of naval (Royal 

 Naval) enterprise in Arctic and Antarctic fields 

 which occasionally pressed rather hard on the re- 

 quirements of other geographical projects. It was 

 as a sailor, after his experiences with the Franklin 

 Search Expedition in 1850-51, that he commenced 

 his literary career, a career which marked him as 

 perhaps the most prolific geographical writer of 

 the day. 



So early as 1852 Sir Clements acquired his first 

 experiences as a land explorer in South America, 

 when he visited Peru on a quest for information 

 about the Inca period, and it was there that he 

 made those investigations which rendered him an 

 expert authority on that country. His greatest 

 work in the cause of humanity was undoubtedly the 

 introduction of cinchona from Peru into India, on 

 which enterprise he was employed by the Secretary 

 of State for India in 1859-60. He was successful 

 both in the collection of plants and in the arrange- 

 ment of plantations in India. The beneficial re- 

 sults of that enterprise to the fever-stricken plains 

 and jungles of India can only be compared with 

 those which have been attained by the discovery of 

 the germ-carrying mosquito. Quinine was at once 

 placed within financial reach of the mass of the 

 people. Peruvian experiences formed the subject 

 of books and pamphlets which appeared from his 

 pen at intervals for many years. "The Incas of 

 Peru," published in 1910, was the latest. 



From 1863 to 1888 Sir Clements was one of the 

 Hon. Secretaries of the Royal Geographical 

 Society, They were busy years when pioneer ex- 

 plorations from every part of the known world into 

 regions of the unknown were leading to sensational 

 revelations and extending our geographical map 

 knowledge with great rapidity. His position as 



