94 



NATURE 



[September 24, 1914 



been widespread, and it wiil be long- before he 

 ceases to be a living- force and passes to the posi- 

 tion — honourable as it is — of an historical figure in 

 physiological science. 



Gaskell cared little for public ceremonies, and 

 rarely attended the congresses which beset the 

 path of prominent scientific men. He loved to 

 work quietly, to cultivate his garden, to see his 

 friends, and to take a hand at whist or bridge. 

 His house at Great Shelford was a recognised 

 meeting-place for physiologists, and his frank and 

 genial welcome will be an abiding recollection 

 to all who knew him. J. N. Laxglev. 



NOTES. 

 We learn from a paragraph in the Times of Sep- 

 tember 19 that the question of abandoning honorary 

 degrees received from English universities, and dis- 

 tinctions from learned societies, is being discussed by 

 some German professors. Prof. \\'. Forster, professor 

 of astronomy in the University of Berlin, who holds a 

 doctor's degree at Oxford, takes objection to the move- 

 ment in a letter to the Berliner Tageblait, on the 

 ground that it is unwise to proclaim a divorce from 

 the " learned world " of England because t>f England's 

 " wicked policy." It would be better for the German 

 professors to make a strong appeal to their English 

 friends for "a more effective loyalty to the intellectual 

 community." Protests against Prof. Forster's views 

 promptly came f'-om Profs. Eucken and J. Kohler, 

 who hold chairs of philosophy and law respectively. 

 In connection with this question we are glad to print 

 elsewhere in this issue a letter from Dr. J. P. Lotsy 

 asking scientific men who have received honours from 

 universities, or other learned institutions of nations 

 with which their own countries are at war, not to 

 commit the act of renunciation advocated b}- certain 

 representatives of German learning. 



We are glad to see in Tuesday's Times a letter from 

 Prof. J. A. Fleming dissociating scientific work from 

 the spirit of Prussian militarism. In the course of 

 his letter, Prof. Fleming says : — " No one familiar 

 with the achievements of scientific thought would 

 refuse to admit the indebtedness of the world to such 

 thinkers and workers as Jacobi, Gauss, Bessel, Rie- 

 mann, H. F. Weber, von Helmholtz, Kirchhoff, Hertz, 

 and Rontgen, but the fact is quite as astonishing as 

 it is painful that a nation which has made such con- 

 tributions to the upbuilding of natural philosophy 

 should have permitted itself also to be dominated by an 

 immoral militarism by whose votaries sheer brute 

 force is worshipped as the highest virtue and the only 

 source of national advancement. Side bv side with 

 immense ability in creating and applying scientific 

 knowledge we have an almost complete failure to 

 recognise truth, honour, faith-keeping, and justice as 

 the foundations of national greatness. Germany has 

 no greater need at the present moment than some 

 inspired prophet to enforce on her the truths of which 

 Thomas Carlyle was so eloquent an exponent — namely, 

 that physical force is in the long run impotent unless 

 backed by those spiritual- forces which spring only 

 NO. 2343, VOL. 94J 



from loyalty to the everlasting difference between 

 right and wrong." 



We learn with regret that Dr. H. J. Johnston- 

 Lavis, professor of vulcanology in the Royal Univer- 

 sity of Naples, was killed in a motor accident at 

 Bourges early this month. 



We regret to announce the death of Sir Henry G. 

 Howse, at one time senior surgeon to Guy's Hospital, 

 and president of the Royal College of Surgeons, Eng- 

 land. He was eminently a practical surgeon, making 

 numerous contributions to the medical literature of his 

 time. Some years ago he retired from active practice, 

 and settled near Sevenoaks, Kent, where he enjoyed a 

 well-earned leisure. He was in his seventy-third year. 



The death is announced at Louth, Lines., of Mr. 

 George Gresswell, formerly lecturer in physical 

 science, under the Government of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, at the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, and 

 demonstrator of practical physiology and histology at 

 Westminster Hospital. Mr. Gresswell was the author 

 of a number of books and papers, including several on 

 the theory of evolution. 



From telegraphic messages issued through Reuter's 

 Agency we learn that the United States Revenue 

 cutter Bear on September 8 rescued eight members of 

 Mr. Stefdnsson's Canadian Arctic Expedition, who 

 were marooned on Wrangel Island. It is reported 

 that Mr. Mallock, the geologist, and Mr. Mamen, the 

 topographer to the expedition, died on Wrangel 

 Island. The absence of news leads to the fear that 

 M. H. Blanchet, of Paris, Dr. A. Mackay, and Mr. 

 James Murray, other members of the expedition, may 

 have been lost. Mr. Stefdnsson himself and three 

 others are said to be safe and to be drifting towards 

 King William Land. 



Sir Ernest Shackleton and the members of the 

 Trans-Antarctic Expedition left London on September 

 i8. Those members of the expedition proceeding to 

 the Ross Sea travelled via Tilbury for Tasmania ; 

 the others, the Weddell Sea section, included Sir 

 Ernest Shackleton, and embarked for South America. 

 The Ross Sea party expects to sail from Hobart in 

 the Aurora. The Weddell Sea contingent hopes to 

 leave Buenos Aires on October i8 by the Endurance. 

 After landing its party the Endurance will return to 

 the Falkland Islands, whence news of the explorers 

 may be expected next January. If Sir Ernest 

 Shackleton 's land party does not cross the Antarctic 

 Continent during the first season it has been arranged 

 that the Aurora shall winter in the Ross Sea. Sir 

 Ernest Shackleton hopes to meet the Ross Sea party 

 either in April of next jear, or, failing that, in March, 

 1916. 



University College, Galway, has, during the 

 summer vacation, suffered a great loss by the death 

 of Prof. R. J. Anderson, professor of natural history in 

 the college. Dr. Anderson was greatly beloved by his 

 colleagues and his students. He was a genuine 

 scholar, with few interests outside the world of science. 

 With his wife (a sister of Prof. John Perry, of South 

 Kensington) he was a constant attendant at the meet- 



