January 14, 1915J 



NATURE 



537 



generation to realise and appreciate what the work 

 of Lewis and Cunning-ham implied thirty years 

 ago. 



The collaboration of Cunningham with Lewis 

 came to an end in 1879—80 owing to Cunningham's 

 appointment as professor of physiology in the 

 Medical College of Bengal, and to a modification 

 in the organisation of the Sanitary Commissioner's 

 department. The Sanitary Commissioner was in 

 1880 made also Surgeon-General with the Govern- 

 ment of India, and he was only able to retain the 

 services of Lewis in the capacity of secretary to 

 the Sanitary Commissioner. 



The diversion of Cunningham's attention from 

 pathological studies was, however, but of short 

 duration. -In 1883 Lewis was offered, and ac- 

 cepted, the post of assistant professor of Patho- 

 logy at Xetley, and Cunningham, who had in the 

 interval established his reputation as a teacher of 

 physiology, was asked to undertake, in addition, 

 the duties of secretary to the Sanitary Commis- 

 sioner. During the remainder of his Indian career 

 Cunningham fulfilled these secretarial duties on 

 behalf of the Government of Indi.i in conjunction 

 with his duties as a professor of physiology on 

 behalf of the Government of Bengal. The condi- 

 tions under which he had to work differed some- 

 what from those experienced by his predecessor, 

 whose headquarters, when not on tour, were with 

 the Government of India in their summer capital 

 of Simla, whereas, owing to the exigencies of his 

 college appointment, Cunningham's headquarters 

 were in Calcutta. The work accomplished by 

 Cunningham during the next fourteen years, for 

 which period he was in charge of both posts, was 

 unremitting. This, combined with the fact that 

 his duties involved continued residence in the 

 plains, at length undermined what had been a 

 vigorous constitution, and in 1897 Cunningham's 

 health became so seriously impaired that he had 

 to be invalided to Europe, and a year later found 

 it necessary to retire from the service of the 

 Government. After retirement he settled in Tor- 

 quay, where, in somewhat indifferent health, he 

 spent the rest of his life. 



During the period from 1879 to 1897, spent by 

 him in Calcutta, Cunningham took his share of 

 those unofficial duties that fall to public men. He 

 was a member of council of the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal and a trustee of the Indian Museum. 

 But the work for which he will longest be remem- 

 bered in Calcutta was that connected with the 

 Zoological Garden, to the committee of manage- 

 ment of which he rendered the greatest service, for 

 manv years as their secretary and eventually as 

 their president. Largely owing to his energy and 

 knowledge the institution attained the position 

 which it still holds, whether as regards the wealth 

 of its collection or the health of its inmates. His 

 services to this garden are commemorated by a 

 bronze medallion portrait presented by friends 

 when Cunningham retired from public service. 



As a teacher of physiology Cunningham was 

 marked by the philosophical breadth of his 

 thought and by the corresoonding width of his 



XO. 2359, VOL. 94] 



outlook. His attention, whether in the class-room 

 or the laboratory, was by no means confined to 

 animal physiology ; some of his most suggestive 

 allusions and fruitful studies were botanical. In 

 the pathological field Cunningham was not so 

 much the investigator of morbid processes and 

 diseased states as the student of deviations from 

 normal physiological processes and naturally con- 

 ditioned tissues. Here again, perhaps to some 

 extent as a consequence of his early association 

 with Berkeley and De Bar\', Cunningham was as 

 interested in working out the life-history of patho- 

 genic organisms affecting plant tissues as in 

 studying diseases affecting animals or men. 



With capacity for research there went, in the 

 case of Cunningham, great powers of observation, 

 thanks to which we are indebted for the existence 

 of notebooks kept with the utmost care during his 

 thirty years' residence in the East. It was to his 

 friends a source of the keenest satisfaction that 

 although Cunningham after retirement was un- 

 able to resume the research work of former years, 

 his health improved sufficiently to admit of his 

 exercising his rare literary gift in presenting some 

 at least of the contents of these notebooks to the 

 world. 



Cunningham's work in India was recognised by 

 his being made a Companion of the Indian Empire 

 and, during his residence in the East, an Honor- 

 ary Surgeon to the \'iceroy. After his retirement 

 he became an Honorary Physician to the King. 



Possessing a manner of ineft"able charm and 

 courtesy, kindly and wise in counsel, Cunningham 

 was endeared to all those who had the privilege 

 of his friendship, and to those of the circle, now 

 sadly diminished, who enjoyed that privilege, his 

 loss is irreparable. 



SIR OU'EX ROBERTS. 

 T) Y the death of Sir Owen Roberts, on January' 

 -L' 6, in his eightieth year, the cause of tech- 

 nical education in this country has lost one of 

 its most devoted and influential champions. It 

 is nearly half a century (1866) since Sir Owen 

 was appointed Clerk to the Worshipful Company 

 of Clothworkers. At that time the City Com- 

 panies had fallen into ill-favour. Their immense 

 revenues, it was alleged, had been diverted from 

 their original purpose of trade protection and 

 advancement, and when the movement for im- 

 proving technical education was started, shortly 

 after the passing of Mr. Forster's Education Act 

 of 1870, longing eyes were cast upon these 

 revenues. It was then that Sir Owen Roberts, 

 in cc)-Of)eration with Sir William Sawyer, of the 

 Drapers' Company, and Sir John Watson, of the 

 Mercers' Company, conceived the bold |X)licy 

 which at the same time assisted the cause of 

 technical education and saved the companies from 

 the odium into which they had fallen by providing 

 them with a worthy object for their munificence. 

 The Clothworkers' Company had already taken 

 a leading part in the foundation of the Yorkshire 

 College of Science (w-hich has since become the 



