272 



NATURE 



[November 5, 1914 



■gence, energy, and organisation on the part of ad- 

 ministrators. Unfortunately these qualities are not 

 always forthcoming, and administration often lags 

 years behind the dictates of science. Although fifteen 

 years have now elapsed since many of the facts which 

 I have described were discovered, I think that I may 

 say after constant study of the subject, and with all 

 due consideration, that mankind has hitherto not 

 effected more than about one-tenth of the improvement 

 of health which it might have effected already if it 

 had put its heart into the business. 



When I had completed my work in 1899 I had fondly 

 dreamed that a few years would see the almost complete 

 banishment of malaria from the principal towns and 

 cities in the tropics ; that those benign dimates and 

 those beautiful scenes would be almost rid at once of a 

 scourge which has blighted them from time immemo- 

 rial. In this I have been disappointed. True, much 

 has been done in certain places, as in Panama, 

 Ismailia, Italy, West Africa, and parts of India and 

 the Malay States, and in some other spots ; but much 

 more might have been done had we remained fully 

 alive to our opportunities — and our duties. It is not 

 the fault of science that we do not fully utilise the 

 gifts which she gives to us. None of us here will live 

 to see the full fruition of those gifts in this particular 

 case ; but we have at least seen the beginning, and 

 may believe that our children will reap the profit. 



But it is ever thus with science. Her slaves are like 

 labourers condemned to drive tunnels through moun- 

 tains — working, perhaps for years, in darkness, and 

 oppressed by the immense spissitudes of nature above , 

 them ; but always encouraged by the hope that at any 

 moment they may emerge into the sunlight and upon 

 the vision of a new world. May I conclude, as appro- 

 priate to the subject of this address, with four lines 

 which were written vears ago by one who was then 

 toiling at the researches here described and in the 

 darkness of the most utter failure — at work, moreover, 

 for which he had little liking or ambition. They may 

 encourage others who are now in a like case. Writing 

 generally of the sublime spirit of inquiry he said : — 



Thee most we honour, thee 



Great Science. Hold thy way. 

 The end thou canst not see ; 



But in the end, the day. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Edinburgh. — The election of the lord rector in each 

 of the four Scottish Universities is one of the great 

 events in a student's life. As a rule the candidates are 

 chosen on account of their political eminence, and the 

 election runs on purely party lines. For ten days 

 preceding the election proper the Conservatives and 

 Liberals vie with one another in the issue of posters, 

 pamphlets, and cartoons. They raid each other's tem- 

 porary offices at all hours of night and day ; and in 

 Edinburgh University when the great daj- of the elec- 

 tion comes and the votes are being recorded in the 

 various class-rooms, there is a gigantic tussle in the 

 quadrangle so as to gain and hold a certain position 

 of vantage below the clock. A torchlight procession 

 finishes the day's doings. Early in the summer the 

 two parties among the Edinburgh students chose Sir 

 John Simon and Sir Edward Carson as their candi- 

 dates, and had affairs developed normally there would 

 have been very lively times. The shadow of the war, 

 however, stayed the coming strife, and with great 

 wisdom the leaders of the Liberal and Unionist Asso- 

 ciations agreed to invite as their lord rector an 

 eminent man of no political party. Their choice fell 

 on Lord Kitchener, himself an honorary graduate of 

 Edinburgh University. A new lord rector is chosen 



NO. 2349, VOL. 94] 



every three jears. He represents the students on the 

 University Court, the governing body of the Univer- 

 sity, and when present presides at the meetings of the 

 Court. This, however, is a comparatively rare occur- 

 rence. His one imperative duty is to address the 

 students of the University once during his tenure of 

 office. The addresses of Lord Kitchener and of Presi- 

 dent Poincar^, who, as announced last week, has 

 been elected rector of the University of Glasgow, will 

 be looked forward to with great interest. 



Sheffield. — The council of the University has made 

 the following appointments : — Mr. Wilfrid Vickers 

 (Manchester), to the post of junior lecturer in educa- 

 tion and assistant-master of method; Mr. H. J. Davies, 

 to the post of demonstrator in engineering ; and Mr. 

 F. Orme, to the post of demonstrator in non-ferrous 

 metallurgy. 



The council of the University, realising that under 

 the present exigencies of trade, manufacturers will be 

 more than ever faced with problems requiring scientific 

 solution, has approved the formation of a University 

 Scientific Advisory Committee to offer assistance, 

 under conditions arranged to safeguard the interests 

 of the consulting profession, to manufacturers carry- 

 ing on processes within the Sheffield University area. 

 From applications already received, there is un- 

 doubtedly a big field for work in front of the com- 

 mittee. 



Mr. Winston Churchill has been unanimously 

 adopted as candidate for the rectorship of the L'niver- 

 sity of Aberdeen, and will be returned unopposed on 

 November 7. 



A course of six lectures on chemistry, beginning on 

 November 16, is to be given at the Royal Academy of 

 Arts, by Prof. A. P. Laurie, professor of chemistry in 

 the academy. The lectures will be given on Mondays, 

 Wednesdays, and Fridays, at 4 p.m. The subject of 

 the first lecture will be the present condition and the 

 pigments and mediums used in painting the Royal 

 Academy diploma pictures. Future lectures will 

 deal with modern pigments, mediums, oils, varnishes, 

 methods of wall painting, the theory of colour, and the 

 chemistry of buildinir materials. 



The " Professional Classes War Relief Council " has 

 issued an appeal for funds. Representatives from the 

 chief professional institutions with representatives of 

 the principal societies organising relief have united to 

 form the council, so that it is acquainted with the 

 circumstances and needs of each profession. The in- 

 tention is to assist by advice and indirect help rather 

 than by monetar\" assistance. The council does not 

 intend to interfere in any way with the work of the 

 committees controlling the various benevolent funds, 

 but it thinks that considerable advantages will flow 

 from bringing into close touch the professional institu- 

 tions and the societies organising relief. The council 

 will also be able to organise special kinds of assistance 

 which will cause those funds to go further and do more 

 ultimate good than would be possible without co- 

 operation. The main object will be to bridge over the 

 temporary difficulty caused by the war and to pave 

 the way to permanent profitable employment. Since 

 there is no other organisation or general fund to meet 

 this kind of distress, the need for such a fund is very 

 great. The chief forms of assistance arranged are in 

 matters of education, training, emigration, maternity 

 aid, and temporary employment, all of which are to be 

 worked under separate representative subcommittees of 

 men and women whose capabilities fit them especially 

 for dealing with their special departments. It is neces- 

 sarv to form a central fund to carry on the work, this 

 fund being used to maintain the forms of assistance 



