5o6 



NATURE 



[January 15, 1920 



brought to the hospital wards a rare combination 

 of qualities. He had few equals as a diagnostician 

 and therapeutist. As a teacher, his unswerving 

 scientific attitude to the problems of clinical medi- 

 cine had on the thousands of students who passed 

 through his hands an influence scarcely to be over- 

 estimated. He taught not only accuracy of 

 method, but also precision of language. His gifts 

 as a physician were recognised by his holding, 

 among other distinctions, the offices of physician 

 to the King in Scotland, and of president of the 

 College of Physicians of Edinburgh, of the Asso- 

 ciation of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 and of the Indian Plague Commission. He was 

 knighted in 1902. 



As an investigator, Fraser was one of the 

 pioneers of experimental pharmacology. His 

 greatest discoveries — from the point of view of 

 their immediate practical application — were those 

 which, in strophanthus and physostigmine, added 

 to our Pharmacopoeia remedies still in everyday 

 use for the purposes for which he recommended 

 them. For far-reaching scientific value they were 

 even exceeded by the monograph which he wrote 

 in collaboration with Prof. Crum Brown on the 

 relation between chemical constitution and physio- 

 logical action, embodying one of the most sug- 

 gestive and fruitful researches in the history of 

 pharmacology. For his researches he was made 

 a laureate and Barbier prizeman of the French 

 Academy of Sciences, and was awarded the 

 Macdougall-Brisbane and Keith prizes of the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh. 



Fraser combined an aptitude for both science 

 and business. He took a keen interest in educa- 

 tional problems and an active part in introducing 

 many university reforms. For twenty years ho 

 acted as dean of the faculty of melicine, and for 

 ten years represented that faculty on the Uni- 

 versity court, and his University on the General 

 Medical Council. 



Endowed with a remarkably lucid and quick mine 

 himself, Fraser was intolerant of mental slow- 

 ness in others, sparing of praise, and at times not 

 slow to censure. But he expected a man's best, 

 and his standard was high. He carried himself 

 — a keen, spare, scholarly figure — with a faint, in- 

 definable hauteur, which may have been to many 

 a barrier to close intimacy. But when this barrier 

 was surmounted, and when he could lay aside the 

 cares of too unremitting labour and of indifferent 

 health, he would weave a grace and charm which 

 few could resist or forget. Especially in later 

 years he fought a continual battle with bronchitis 

 and emphysema with a fortitude which is surely 

 characteristic of sufferers from this condition. 

 That he was so long permitted to lead an active 

 life — for he retired only two years ago — was due 

 in no small measure to the loving care and en- 

 couragement of Lady Fraser and the kindly super- 

 vision of his staunch friend and physician. Sir 

 James Affleck. 



Plummer, Gregory, Fowler, Withering, Lister, 



Simpson, Hughes Bennett, Christison, Brunton, 



Fraser — alumni or professors of the LTniversity of 



Edinburgh, a roll enviable and for one medical 



NO. 2620, VOL. 104I 



school possibly unequalled — file before us in retro- 

 spect. Their achievements in adding to our know- 

 ledge of remedies for disease and for pain stretch 

 from the picturesque twilight of empiricism to the 

 clear light of scientific method. With the passage 

 of the last to that unknown bourn, we salute their 



J. A. G. 



memorv. 



NOTES. 



A SPECIAL general meeting of the Royal Society wil! 

 be held on January 22, at 3.30,- to admit H.R.H. the 

 Prince of Wales as a fellow of the societv. 



The meeting of February 5 has been set apart by 

 the council of the Royal Society as a meeting ior a 

 discussion on "The Theory of Relativity," to be 

 opened by Mr. Jeans and continued by Prof. Edding- 

 ton, the Astronomer Roval, and others. 



The International Research Council has been con- 

 stituted, by successive meetings in London, Paris, and 

 Brussels, as a Federation of National Research Unions. 

 Under its auspices unions are being formed for the 

 organisation of international work and co-operation 

 in different departments of science, the unions already 

 instituted being for astronomy, geodesy and geo- 

 physics, mathematics, and (provisionally) chemistry 

 and biology. The question of international organisa- 

 tion in science is raised, to a great extent, bv 

 Article 282 of the Peace Treaty, which states that 

 "treaties, conventions, and agreements of an economic 

 and technical character not included in a specified list 

 cease to be operative." That this article was intended 

 to cover conventions on scientific matters appears from 

 the list of exceptions, in which the Metric Convention 

 and the International Agricultural Institute at Rome 

 are included. 



With the view of obtaining the opinion of 

 representatives of pure and applied science upon the 

 subject of the co-ordination of international effort 

 and action, a special meeting of the Conjoint 

 Board of Scientific Societies was held at the 

 Royal Society on January 8. After much dis- 

 cussion the following resolutions were passed : — 

 "(i) That the executive committee be requested to 

 appoint committees for the purpose of considering the 

 desirability of forming in branches of science, as re- 

 commended by the Brussels Conference, international 

 unions connected with the International Research 

 Council, or of joining such Unions if formed inde- 

 pendently. (2) That these committees be authorised 

 to make recommendations with regard to the proposed 

 statutes and the constitution of national research 

 councils. (3) That the committees consist of repre- 

 sentatives nominated by the principal societies con- 

 cerned, together with additional members nominated 

 by the executive committee." 



We regret to see the announcement of the death on 

 January ii, at seventy-three years of age, of Father 

 J. N. Strassmaier, the distinguished Assvriologist, 

 whose work with Father Epping on Assyrian astro- 

 nomy is well known. 



The Scientific Instrument, Glassware, and Potash 

 Production Section of the Board of Trade has been 

 transferred from 7 Seamore Place, W. i, to the main 

 offices at Great George Street, S.W.i. 



