ii6 



NA TURE 



[June 2, 1898 



ing the operations. On this occasion it was determined, after 

 consultation with several experts and with the Secretary of the 

 Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to kill 

 the elephant by strangulation, which had once before been 

 adopted with success by Mr. Bailey. Accordingly it was 

 arranged that on a recent Sunday morning — the day most suit- 

 able to the Show people and that freest from intrusion by the 

 public — Don, as the doomed elephant, who was supposed to be 

 about twenty-two years of age and nearly 4^ tons in weight, 

 was named, should be strangled. 



At the appointed hour those specially invited — among whom 

 were several veterinary surgeons. Dr. Forbes, Director of the 

 Liverpool Museums (to whom the body was generously to be 

 handed over as a gift from Mr. Bailey to the Museum), Dr. 

 Roberts, and Mr. Burnham, of the Society for Prevention of 

 Cruelty to Animals— found the elephant standing quietly in one 

 of the large tents in line with some twenty to thirty others. A new 

 Manilla rope wAs loosely wound three times around its neck, 

 and its legs, fully stridden, were securely chained each to a 

 post firmly driven into the ground alongside each limb. The 

 animal was intentionally not isolated from its fellows, as it was 

 feared that if separated by itself it would become restive and 

 ill-tempered. The rope surrounding the beast's neck had one 

 end secured to three strong pillars in the ground, some distance 

 away and slightly in advance of the fore-feet ; and the other, 

 which terminated in a loop, was hooked to a double series of 

 pulleys, to the tackle of which ninety men were attached. When 

 all was ready, the slack was gently, quietly, and without any 

 apparent annoyance to the elephant, which kept on eating hay, 

 taken in till the coils round its neck were just taut. The 

 word was then given, "Walk away with the rope." Amid 

 perfect silence the well-disciplined company walked away with 

 it without the least effort. So noiselessly and easily did every- 

 thing work that, unless with foreknowledge of what was going 

 to take place, one might have been present without realising 

 what the march of these men meant. The elephant gave no 

 sign of discomfort, either by trunk or tail ; its fellows standing 

 close by looked on in pachydermatous unconcern, and at the 

 end of exactly thirty seconds it slowly collapsed, and lay down 

 as if of its own accord. There was absolutely no struggle, 

 and no motion, violent or otherwise, in any part of the body, 

 nor the slightest indication of pain. In a few seconds more 

 there was no response to the touch of its eyelashes or other 

 parts of the eye, and this condition remained for a few minutes ; 

 but through, perhaps, the leakage into the chest of a small 

 ■quantity of air, some slight sensitiveness returned to the eye, 

 seen on touching its inner angle, though not the cornea. On 

 slightly tightening up the rope, the chest gave one or two short 

 throbs, and after six and a half minutes all movement ceased, 

 and sensation was entirely lost ; while at the end of thirteen 

 minutes from the order " to walk away," the eye had become 

 rigid and dim. 



That no more humane, painless and rapid method of taking 

 the life of a large mammal could be devised, was the opinion 

 of all the experts who witnessed the execution of this elephant. 



The skin and skeleton have been preserved for exhibition in 

 the Municipal Museums, and all the important viscera have 

 been placed in Formal, for future study by the Director and his 

 staff. Prof. Pat^rson and Dr. Dunn, of University College, 

 who very kindly aided in the dissection, have made a full 

 study of certain parts of the nervous system, which they had not 

 ■completed in the dissection made by them (on which they 

 have recently contributed a valuable paper to the Jounial of 

 Anatomy and Physiology) of the "rogue" elephant poisjned 

 last year in Liverpool. These points, and others which may 

 turn out to be of interest on the fuller dissection of the present 

 specimen, will be published in the Bulletin of the Liverpool 

 Museums. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — On Tuesday evening, May 24, the Oxford Uni- 

 versity Junior Scientific Club held a very successful conversazione 

 at the University Museum, which was tastefully decorated and 

 lighted for the occasion. Over 1000 persons attended, and were 

 received by the President, Mr. W. E. Moss (Trinity), and the 

 other officers of the club. For the entertainment of the guests 

 numerous exhibits and demonstrations of the most varied 



NO. 1492, VOL. 58] 



de.scription were on view in the central court and the adjacent 

 departments ; and in the large lecture theatre two lectures were 

 given: the first, by Prof. H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., of Owens 

 College, Manchester, on " Climbing in the Rocky Mountains " ; 

 and the second, by Dr. Gustav Mann (New Coll.), on " Micro- 

 photography," both being well illustrated by lantern slides. A 

 short lecture was also given in the geological lecture theatre by 

 Mr. G. J. Burch, on " Artificial Colour-Blindness," in which 

 evidence was brought forward to show that, instead of three, 

 there are really four colour-sensations— red, green, blue, and 

 violet. The reason so many experimenters have only detected 

 three, is that a large number of people are colour-blind to either 

 blue or violet. The lecturer's experiments consisted in fatiguing 

 the optic nerve by exposure to special parts of the spectrum, and 

 it vvas thus shown that the pure blue of the spectrum between 

 violet and green could be eliminated. The Radcliffe Library 

 was open during the evening, by kind permission of the 

 librarian (Sir Henry W. Acland, Bart., K.C.B., F.R.S.), as 

 was also the Pitt-Rivers' Collection, by permission of Mr. H. 

 Balfour, the curator. The band of the Royal Artillery, with 

 Sergt. -Major W. Sugg as conductor, gave an excellent selection 

 of music. 



In view of the importance of ascertaining, with such accuracy 

 as the conditions allow, the number of pupils receiving instruc- 

 tion in public and private secondary schools in England, the 

 Lords of the Committee of Council on Education are repeating 

 the inquiry first made in May 1897. Forms of inquiry have 

 been sent to all those schools which are understood to be giving 

 secondary education, and if one has not been received by the 

 principal teacher an application to the Secretary of the Educa- 

 tion Department will ensure the papers being sent. 



Voting by means of ballot papers through the post. Con- 

 vocation of the University of London have placed Mr. J. 

 Fletcher Moulton, who opposes the scheme for a teaching 

 University, first on the list of those from whom Her Majesty 

 will select a member of the Senate in succession to the late Sir 

 Richard Quain. The two other candidates were Dr. J. B. 

 Benson and Mr. P. Daphne. Mr. Moulton headed the poll by 

 more than two hundred votes. It is not anticipated that the 

 result of this election will influence the Government's intention 

 to introduce the London University Bill at an early date. 



The London County Council has decided to lay out plots of 

 ground in Battersea, Ravenscourt, and Victoria Parks in such 

 manner as will afford assistance to scholars at elementary and 

 secondary schools in the study of practical botany. Hardy 

 typical plants belonging to twenty natural orders will be 

 arranged in beds near the paths, one bed being devoted to each 

 order. Each specimen will be labelled with its common name 

 and its Latin or systematic name. Labels giving the names 

 and natural orders will also be attached to the more important 

 trees, shrubs and plants throughout the parks mentioned. 

 Teachers holding printed orders issued by the Technical 

 Education Board will be able to obtain from the superintendent 

 in each park such specimens as may be required lor botanical 

 study. It is hoped that later on the arrangements may be 

 extended to the cultivation of important types of the lower 

 orders of plants, such as fungi, mosses, ferns, liverworts, &c., 

 and facilities afforded for the study of aquatic plants. 



A REPORT on the International Congress on Commercial 

 Education, recently held at Antwerp, is given in the London 

 Technical Education Gazette. The following items from the 

 report are of interest : — The view of the majority of delegates 

 present at the Congress was that specialised commercial edu- 

 cation should not be commenced in primary and secondary 

 schools, but that there was ample room for the development of 

 higher commercial teaching. It is a significant fact that the 

 city of Antwerp spends 2^ millions of francs on education out of 

 a total revenue of 4 millions of francs. In connection with the 

 discussion of the question as to what extent special commercial 

 instruction should be given in secondary schools Dr. Stegemann, 

 official German delegate, gave a long account of the German 

 schools, more particularly of the " Realschulen " and of the 

 " Fortbildungsschulen " (continuation schools). He said that 

 the latter were principally supported by leading merchants and 

 members of mercantile corporations, because they fully recog- 

 nised the importance of giving to their clerks a theoretical 

 education as the complement to their office training. Dr. 

 Stegemann said that commercial instruction could be given 



