38 



NA TV RE 



[May 12, 1898 



celebrated picture by Holbein hangs in a hall close by. In that 

 picture the King is presenting the charter to the Surgeons. On 

 his right hand are the physicians, Dr. Chambers and Sir William 

 Butts. Previously to this time I believe the two Colleges held 

 an examination similar to the conjoint scheme at the present day. 



Sir William MacCormac (President of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons of England), speaking for surgery, said the members 

 of the profession outside the army and those within its ranks 

 were grateful for what the noble Marquis, the Secretary of State 

 for War, had done for those who thus served their country in 

 the Medical Department of the army. He had agreed to 

 grant the two great wishes which have been pressed upon 

 him — army rank and the formation of an army medical corps. 

 Passing to the historical connection mentioned, Sir William 

 MacCormac said : In the history of the City of London one 

 might recall the names of many distinguished men in our pro- 

 fession who have served their country in the wars. The Father 

 of English Surgery, Richard Wiseman, surgeon to King Charles 

 I. and Sergeant-Surgeon to King Charles II., had an eventful 

 career during the Civil War. He was taken prisoner after the 

 Battle of Worcester, and again while practising his profession 

 as a surgeon in the Old Bailey at the sign of the " King's Head" 

 he was taken to the Tower, and nearly lost his own head during 

 the Commonwealth. About the same time John Woodhall, a 

 surgeon at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Surgeon-General to the 

 East India Company, also a celebrated surgeon in this old 

 City of London, who had served both in the army and in 

 the navy, dedicates his curious work on surgery and the 

 duties of the surgeon's mate to the "King's most excellent 

 Majestie" Charles I., and also to the Right Hon. Sir Morris 

 Abbot, Lord Mayior. W^oodhall speaks of himself as an ancient 

 master of the mysterie of Barber Surgeons, an old City com- 

 pany which became transformed in lapse of time, let us hope 

 improved, into the Royal College of Surgeons, while the 

 Apothecaries, who did so much in their time for the profession 

 of this country, and still do so, continue as one of the City 

 companies. So there are points of contact between our pro- 

 fession and the City of London. 



Sir William Turner (President of the General Medical 

 Council) proposed the toast of "The Houses of Lords and 

 Commons," coupled with the names of Lord Lister and Sir 

 Charles Cameron, both of whom replied. 



Sir George Duffey proposed " The Health of the Right 

 Hon. the Lord Mayor." In the course of his reply the Lord 

 Mayor said : I have inaugurated this dinner to-night in the 

 hope but not with the assurance that my successors will follow 

 on with it. I see no reason, looking to the facts that almost 

 every other profession has been recognised in this hall, why the 

 medical profession should not be included with them. 



NOTES. 

 The first of the two annual conversaziones of the Royal 

 Society was held yesterday evening, as we went to press. 



The following fifteen candidates were selected by the Council 

 of the Royal Society on Thursday last to be recommended for 

 election into the Society : — Mr. H. F. Baker, Prof. E. W. 

 Brown, Dr. A. Buchan, Mr. S. F. Harmer, Mr. A. Lister, 

 Lieut. -General C. A. McMahon, Dr.W. Osier, the Hon. C. A. 

 Parsons, Prof. T. Preston, Prof. E. W. Reid, Mr. A. Scott, 

 Mr. A. C. Seward, Mr. W. A. Shenstone, Mr. H. M. Taylor, 

 and Mr. J. Wimshurst. The certificates of these candidates are 

 given in another part of the present number. 



The annual visitation of the Board of Visitors of the Royal 

 Observatory, Greenwich, will take place on Saturday, June 4. 

 The Observatory will be open for inspection by invited guests 

 at 3 o'clock. 



The seventieth annual meeting of the German Association 

 of Naturalists and Physicians will be held at Diisseldorf on 

 September 19-24. 



At last week's meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences it 

 was announced that the French Minister of Public Instruction 

 had asked the Academy for an expression of opinion upon 

 NO. 1489, VOL. 58] 



the subject of the proposed law to change the national time. 

 The communication was referred to a committee previously 

 appointed to consider the proposed modifications. 



The following are the names of the Royal Commissioners 

 appointed to inquire and report as to methods of treating and 

 disposing of sewage : — The Earl of Iddesleigh (chairman). Sir 

 Richard Thome Thorne, K.C.B., Prof. Michael Foster, Prof. 

 William Ramsay, Major-General Constantine Phipps Carey, 

 Dr. James Burn Russell, Colonel Thomas Walter Harding, Mr. 

 Thomas William Killick, and Mr. Charles Philip Cotton. 



On Monday next. May 16, a special evening meeting of the 

 Royal Geographical Society will be held in commemoration of 

 the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Cape route to India 

 by Vasco Da Gama. A paper on the subject will be read by 

 the President. H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, H.R.H. the 

 Duke of York, and His Excellency the Portuguese Minister, 

 Count de Several, have promised to be present. The anniversary 

 meeting of the Society will be held on May 23, and the annual 

 conversazione will be held in the Natural History Museum, 

 South Kensington, on the evening of Thursday, June 23. 



The Council of the Royal Geographical Society have awarded 

 one of the two Royal medals to Dr. Sven Hedin for his work 

 in Central Asia, and the other to Lieutenant E. A. Peary, 

 United States Navy, for his explorations in Northern Greenland. 

 The Council have also made the following awards : — The 

 Murchison grant to Mr. H. Warington Smyth for his several 

 journeys in Siam ; the Back grant to Mr. George P. Tate for 

 his survey work in Afghanistan, Baluchistan, especially Makran, 

 Aden, and on the Indus ; the Gill memorial to Mr. Edmund J. 

 Garwood for his geographical work in Spitsbergen during two 

 seasons, in company with Sir Martin Conway ; the Cuthbert 

 Peek grant to Mr. Poulett Weatherley for his exploration of the 

 region between Lakes Mweru and Bangweolo. The following 

 foreign geographers and travellers have been elected honorary 

 corresponding members : — Don Marcos Jimenes de la Espada, 

 Don Francisco Moreno, Buenos Ayres ; Marquis of Rio Branco, 

 Brazil ; Dr. Thoroddsen, of Iceland ; Prof. Ratzel, of Leipzig. 



Several changes have have been made on the staff of the 

 Geological Survey. The vacancy caused by the retirement of 

 Mr. George Sharman, senior Palaeontologist, has been filled by 

 the appointment of Dr. F. L. Kitchin as Assistant Palaeonto- 

 logist, under Mr. E. T. Newton, F.R.S., Palaeontologist. 

 Dr. William Pollard has been appointed an Assistant Geo- 

 logist in the Petrographical Department of the Survey at 

 Jermyn Street, in the room of Prof. W. W. Watts ; and Mr. C. 

 B. Wedd has also been appointed an Assistant Geologist, to fill 

 the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. C. E, De Ranee. 

 Mr. H. J. Seymour has joined the staff in Ireland as Assistant 

 Geologist, to take charge of the petrographic work, in the room 

 of Prof. W.J. Sollas, F.R.S. 



At a recent meeting of the Gesellschaft fur Erdkiinde held in 

 Berlin, Dr. Gerhard Schott of the Deutsche Seewarte gave an 

 account of the provisional plans for the forthcoming German 

 deep-sea expedition. The expedition was originally suggested 

 by Prof. Chun, of Breslau, and it was at first intended to confine 

 its labours strictly to zoological research ; but the sum granted 

 by the Imperial Parliament (15,000/.) is considered sufficient to 

 allow of a comprehensive series of physical and chemical observ- 

 ations being undertaken as well. Soundings will be made in 

 little-explored regions in the eastern part of the Soath Atlantic, 

 on the sub- Antarctic plateau to the east of the Cape, and in the 

 immense stretch of the Indian Ocean between the equator and 

 30° S. lat. Special attention will be given by the chemists to 

 analyses of the gas-contents of the waters at different depths. The 



