402 



NATURE 



[February 21, 1901 



In connection with the subject of the foregoing note, it is of 

 melancholy interest to refer to articles in thejornaldo Commercio 

 of Para, on the subject of the death of Dr. VV. Myers and of the 

 illness of his colleague, Dr. H. Durham, who both contracted 

 yellow fever in the pursuit of their dangerous duties whilst acting 

 on the Yellow Fever Expedition of the Liverpool School of Tropical 

 Medicine. The following is a translation of parts of the articles : — 

 "January i8. Drs. Durham and Myers. — Lying at present in 

 the hospital Domingos Freire are the illustrious English doctors 

 who came here in commission on behalf of the Liverpool School 

 of Tropical Medicine to study yellow fever. Daily exposed to 

 infection from the terrible disease, the day before yesterday, after 

 an autopsy at an early hour on a case of very acute form of 

 3 allow fever, they began to feel the first symptoms, and without 

 loss of time entered the hospital. A clinical service was arranged, 

 assisted by numerous colleagues of the illustrious men of science, 

 under the direction of their medical assistant. We sincerely 

 hope for the recovery of the distinguished doctors, who through 

 their noble dedication to science have baen rendering us such 

 great services, their investigations having already achieved en- 

 tirely new results from which we may be permitted to look for 

 promising advantages for our country and for humanity at 

 large." "January 22. — In the isolation hospital Domingos 

 Freire succumbed most rapidly and unexpectedly the English bac- 

 teriologist Dr. W. Myer>, who came to this capital solely for the 

 study of the disease to which he has fallen a victim — yellow fever. 

 Following on a prolonged autopsy, both Dr. Myers and his 

 illustrious companion. Dr. Durham, fell ill themselves, the 

 latter still being under the burden of the disease. Dr. Myers' 

 death took place on the afternoon of the 20th, and the burial was 

 carried out yesterday morning, the coffin being carried from the 

 hospital to the cemetery of Tanta Isabel by Dr. Paes de C'lr- 

 valho. Governor of the State of Para, and Drs. Francisco 

 Miranda, Americo Campos, Pontes de Carvalho, Gon^alo 

 Lagos and other gentlemen alternately. At the side of the 

 grave the following doctors spoke : — Paes de Carvalho, who 

 showed by the sadness of his expressions the deep grief which he 

 felt, and Americo Campos, as representative of the Medico- 

 Pharmaceutical Society of Para. There were present a large 

 number of members of the English colony, all in deep mourning 

 and visibly affected." 



The neglect of ethnography in Great Britain has often been 

 pointed out in these columns. In his presidential address 

 to the Anthropological Institute on February 4, Mr. C. H. 

 Read showed that not only is our country far behind other 

 nations in respect to provision for teaching the subject, but also 

 in ethnographical collections and accommodation for them. 

 Germany, with colonial possessions infinitesimal in extent com- 

 pared with those of England, has completely distanced us in 

 this respect ; the British Museum collections from British 

 possessions being inferior to those of the Berlin Museum, 

 which has exhibits seven times as numerous as those in the 

 British Museum, and this disproportion is rapidly increasing. 

 After the Benin expedition we allowed ourselves to be outbid 

 in the purchase of specimens, and Mr. Read said that attention 

 has in Germany been officially called to the fact that England 

 seems to be too poor to be able to compete effectively for 

 objects that are indispensable for her ethnographical collections. 

 Most people will agree with Mr. Read that this state of things 

 is a national disgrace, and shows a neglect of scientific interests 

 as astounding to |thoughtful minds as it is deplorable. In the 

 matter of ethnographical material, we are apparently becoming 

 renowned as the nation of lost opportunities. Can nothing be 

 done to stimulate national interest in the collection of objects 

 and conservation of knowledge fast disappearing before the 

 advance of civilisation ? 



NO. 1634, VOL. 63] 



Mr. Vaughan Cornish, whose name is closely associated 

 with the wave-like forms assumed by drifted materials, is now 

 engaged on the Canadian prairies photographing and studying 

 the forms assumed by drifting snow. Thanks to the liberality 

 of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and the interest 

 evinced in the investigation by Sir William van Home, Mr. 

 Cornish writes that his work proceeds satisfactorily, and enough 

 has already been done to justify the expedition. 



The last mail from Japan brings news that Mr. A. Imamura has 

 been nominated assistant professor of seismology at the Imperial 

 University of Tokyo, where he will work with Dr. F. Omori at 

 the Seismological Institute. In addition to this Institute, there 

 is in Tokyo a Seismological Investigation Committee, which has 

 already published thirty-two volumes relating to its work, and 

 also, at the Central Meteorological Observatory, a department 

 which receives and analyses the registers relating to earth- 

 quakes observed at about one thousand co-operating stations 

 distributed throughout the Empire. 



The next congress of the South-eastern Union of Scientific 

 Societies will be held at Haslemere on June 6-8, under the 

 presidency of Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F. R.S. 



The inaugural meeting of the Birmingham local section of 

 the Institution of Electrical Engineers, which was to have been 

 held on January 23, has now been fixed for Wednesday, 

 February 27, in the University Buildings. Dr. Oliver Lodge, 

 chairman of the section, will deliver an inaugural address, and 

 the president of the Institution, Prof. J. Perry, F.R.S., will be 

 present. 



It is announced in the British Medical Journal that an 

 Italian Society of Biology has recently been founded on the 

 initiative of many distinguished naturalists. The first meeting 

 of the society will probably be held in Rome during the coming 

 Eastertide. The object of the society is to promote the study 

 of the biological sciences and everything relating to the advance- 

 ment and teaching of these. The society will publish a 

 bulletin giving an account of its proceedings. 



On Saturday next, February 23, Lord Rayleigh will deliver the 

 first of a course of six lectures at the Royal Institution on 

 sound and vibrations. On Tuesday, February . 26, Dr. 

 Allan Macfadyen will begin a course of five lectures on the 

 cell as the unit of life, and on Thursday, February 28, Prof. 

 Percy Gardner will deliver the first of a course of three lectures 

 on Greek and Roman portrait sculpture. The Friday evening 

 discourse on February 22 will be delivered by Sir William 

 Roberts-Austen, K.C.B. His subject will be " Metals as Fuel." 



The Paris correspondent of the Chemist and Druggist states 

 that M. Berthelot, one of the permanent secretaries of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, is taking steps to carry out a resolution of 

 that body to distribute annually a gold medal in memory of 

 Lavoisier. M. Paulin Tasset, the engraver, is preparing the die 

 of the medal, and has taken as a model a medallion of the great 

 chemist in profile by David d' Angers. The inscription will be 

 of the simplest nature. The name "Laurent Lavoisier" will 

 appear under the profile, and on the back of the medal the 

 words " Institut -de France, Academic des Sciences, Medaille 

 Lavoisier." The medal is likely to become greatly prized by 

 chemists, and will be given for distinguished chemical research. 

 It will be awarded for the first time this year by the Academy 

 of Sciences, and its annual distribution is assured by a balance 

 remaining over from the subscription for the monument, which 

 was unveiled last summer behind the Madeleine Church, Paris. 



The anniversary meeting of the Geological Society was held 

 on Friday, February 15. The officers were appointed as 

 follows -.--President : Mr. J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S. Vice-presi- 



