March 14, 1901] 



NA TURE 



473 



NOTES. 

 Two letters which have passed between Sir William Anson 

 and Lord George Hamilton, with reference to the recent dis- 

 missals at Coopers Hill College, appeared in Wednesday's 

 Times. Sir William Anson stated briefly the chief points upon 

 which the request for an inquiry into the case is based. Accept- 

 ing the decision that some change in the course of studies is 

 necessary, it is urged that ( i ) the men affected by the proposed 

 changes should have had an opportunity of a hearing when the 

 president recast the course of studies, if only to see whether they 

 would be willing to adapt themselves to the new conditions ; 

 (2) when the Board of Visitors considered, and in the main 

 adopted. Colonel Ottley's recommendations, it does not seem to 

 have been suggested to them that the teaching staff had not been 

 consulted, or that they might have been consulted with advan- 

 tage, or, at any rate, that the gentlemen whose dismissals were 

 in contemplation had a right to be heard ; (3) many persons 

 eminent in science have expressed a strong opinion that the 

 proposed dismissals will act injuriously on the scientific educa- 

 tion of the country. In reply to Sir William Anson, 

 Lord George Hamilton states that he has already taken 

 steps to meet some of the complaints, and to put the 

 teaching staff of the College upon a better footing. Upon his 

 request the Board of Visitors have stated their readiness to meet 

 to hear at once what the members of the teaching staff affected 

 by the changes may wish to urge against them. In conclusion, 

 Lord George Hamilton acknowledges that the channels of com- 

 munication between those actually teaching and those in authority 

 over the teachers — viz., the president and visitors — should be 

 widened and quickened, and that a divergence of opinion such 

 as has been revealed is detrimental, if not fatal, to harmonious 

 co-operation. He adds, " I therefore propose to ask the 

 Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London to each nominate 

 a visitor to be an addition to the present board. I shall ask 

 the board, when so reconstituted, to appoint a committee, in- 

 cluding the above, to inquire and report upon the working, 

 discipline and constitution of the College, and the relations of 

 the visitors, president and teaching staff." 



The Croonian Lecture of the Royal Society will be delivered 

 on March 21 by Prof. C, Lloyd Morgan, F.R.S., on " Studies 

 in Visual Sensation." 



Prof. J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., has been elected a member 

 of the Athenaeum Club under the provisions of the rule which 

 empowers the annual election by the committee of nine persons 

 of "distinguished eminence in science, literature, the arts, or 

 for public services." 



Prof, von Wettstein has been elected president of the 

 Zoological-Botanical Society of Vienna. 



The Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna has inaugurated 

 a botanical exploration of southern Brazil during the present 

 year, under the leadership of Prof, von Wettstein and Prof. V. 

 Schiffner. 



We learn from Science that the expedition sent by the U.S. 

 Naval Observatory to observe the forthcoming solar eclipse was 

 expected to leave San Francisco for Manila on February 16. 

 From Manila it will be transported to Sumatra by a U.S. war- 

 ship, and headquarters will be established at Padang about a 

 month before the occurrence of the eclipse. The party includes 

 Prof. Skinner, of the U.S. Naval Observatory, Prof. Barnard, 

 of the Yerkes Observatory, Dr. Mitchell, of Columbia Univer- 

 sity, Dr. Humphreys, of the University of Virginia, and Mr. 

 Jewell, of the Johns Hopkins University. 



The death is announced of Mr. John Hopwood Blake, F.G.S. 

 Trained as an engineer under Brereton, he became an associate 



NO. 1637, VOL. 63] 



member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In 1868 he joined 

 the staff of the Geological Survey, and did much field-work in 

 Somerset, in Norfolk and Suffolk, and latterly in Berkshire, 

 Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. He was the author of 

 memoiis on the geology of Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and ot 

 East Dereham, and had in preparation memoirs on the geology 

 of Reading and on the water supply of Berkshire. Though 

 slow as a worker and diffident in expressing his opinions, the 

 work which he accomplished was performed with much enthu- 

 siasm and with the most painstaking care and precision. He 

 died at Oxford on March 5, of angina pectoris, at the age of 

 fifty-seven. 



At the Pan-American Medical Congress, which met recently 

 at Havana, the board which has been engaged in the investiga- 

 tion of yellow fever, consisting of Drs. Reed, Carroll and 

 Agramonte, made a report. According to Press reports it was 

 stated that two of the main conclusions were that the specific 

 cause of the disease is unknown, and that it can be carried only 

 by mosquitoes. The fever can be produced by a subcutaneous 

 injection of blood from a patient who must have had the disease 

 for not more than two days. Mosquitoes must also bite the 

 patient during the first two days of his illness or they cannot 

 transmit the disease. The board kept an infected mosquito for 

 fifty-one days, when it was allowed to bite a person, who 

 contracted the disease. The board differs from Dr. Finlay in 

 that the latter holds that more than one kind of mosquito can 

 convey yellow fever. The board says there is only one kind that 

 can do so. Dr. Finlay also says that a mosquito can transmit 

 the disease the fourth or fifth day after biting a patient, while 

 the board says that twelve days must intervene. The board 

 reported that non-immunes were allowed to sleep in infected 

 clothing and bedding, but none contracted the disease. Dr. 

 Wilde, of the Argentine Republic, proposed the creation of an 

 international yellow fever board to study means of exterminating 

 the disease. 



The Royal Irish Academy has this year taken a step, after 

 prolonged consideration, which will, it is hoped, still further 

 establish its position in Ireland, and in the world of science and 

 letters in general. It has adopted the principle of the bye-laws 

 of the Royal Society of London, respecting the mode of election 

 of members ; the council is now empowered to select a number 

 of persons, not exceeding twelve, in each year, from the list of 

 candidates for membership proposed, and to recommend these 

 to the body of members for election. The members may, at the 

 single annual meeting at which elections now take place, substi- 

 tute the name of any candidate already proposed for that of any 

 candidate selected by the council ; but the number of candidates 

 elected must not be greater than that fixed by the council for 

 that particular year. Changes have been also made in the bye- 

 laws so as to provide for the more frequent introduction of new 

 blood into the council. The position of the Royal Irish Aca- 

 demy becomes at the same time defined in relation to the other 

 great medium of scientific publication and intercourse in Dublin, 

 the Royal Dublin Society. While the latter, by its objects and 

 foundation, must be to a large extent a popular institution, per- 

 forming its important public functions and scientific work by the 

 support of an extensive body of members, the Royal Irish 

 Academy is able, on the other hand, to maintain its membership 

 as a distinction, and to attract to itself, by this circumstance, 

 those who are mainly concerned with the furtherance of research. 

 A large number of its members are naturally also members of 

 the Royal Dublin Society, and thus enjoy the advantages 

 offered by the publication-committees of both societies. With 

 these two bodies in session, and with the Irish Naturalist as a 

 medium for current notes, scientific work in Ireland need not 

 , wait long before receiving recognition and discussion. 



