April io, 19 19] 



NATURE 



NOTES. 



We much regret to record the death on April 2, 

 at sixty-three years of age, of Sir James MacKenzie 

 Davidson, the distinguished ophthalmic surgeon and 

 radiologist. Sir James Davidson received his early 

 education in Buenos Aires. He came to England as 

 a youth, and entered for medicine at Aberdeen Uni- 

 vdsity. He also studied at Edinburgh and London. 

 After graduation at Aberdeen in 1882 he became first 

 <H>sistant to the professor of surgery there, and later 

 U rturer on ophthalmology. He was also ophthalmic 

 surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, and the 

 Royal Sick Children's Hospital, and physician to the 

 Blind Asylum. The experience gained as an 

 ophthalmic surgeon in Aberdeen exercised a great 

 influence on his work when he came to London. In 

 1896 Rontgen's discovery of X-rays was announced, 

 and with characteristic energy and commendable fore- 

 sight Sir James Davidson at once grasped the signi- 

 ficance of this discovery in relation to medicine. The 

 same year found him making a pilgrimage to Wiirz- 

 burg to interview Rontgen. After removing to 

 London in iSqy he became radiologist to Charing 

 Cross Hospital and to the Royal London Ophthalmic 

 Hospital. At a later date he became consulting radio- 

 logist to both these institutions. Henceforth Sir 

 James Davidson's whole energy became absorbed in 

 research work, and he quickly took a leading position 

 arnongst the pioneer workers in X-rays and radium. 

 His early training in ophthalmology led him to grasp 

 the value of X-rays in this branch of medicine, and 

 particularly in the localisation of foreign bodies in the 

 orbit and eyeball ; the method elaborated by him. and 

 alwnvs associated with his name, became recognised 

 as the standard one, and upon it all the modern 

 methods are based. He also advocated the practice 

 of stereoscopic radiography. He received a knight- 

 hood in IQ12, and at the time of his death held the 

 positions of past-president of the Rontgen Society 

 and honorarv consultini^ radiologist to the London 

 District^ Command. The development of radio- 

 diairnosis and radiotherapy are intimately bound up 

 with the name of MacKenzie Davidson, and he was 

 reco£<nised in America and on the Continent as the 

 leading radiologist in this country. By his death 

 radiolo£fv has lost a distinguished exoonent of 

 technique, an orimnal worker of the high^t order, 

 and an enthusiastic advocate of its future in medicine 

 and science. 



We regret to learn that Dr. William Allen Sturge 

 died on March 27 in his sixty-ninth year. Dr. Sturge 

 was born in Bristol, and graduated as M.D. in the 

 University of London, but spent the greater part of 

 his professional life at Nice, where he was a highly 

 esteemed medical practitioner. While on the Riviera 

 he devoted much of his leisure to collecting and 

 studying ancient Greek vases and other objects of 

 Greek art, and eventually extended his interests to pre- 

 historic archaeology. He collected flint implements 

 from the French caves and other Continental localities, 

 and on his return to England in 1907 he chose his 

 residence at Icklingham, Suffolk, where he could 

 explore one of the richest districts for flint implements 

 in this country. He also acquired specimens from the 

 collections of William Greenwell, Worthington Smith. 

 Allen Brown, and others. Dr. Sturge contributed 

 several papers to the Proceedings of the Prehistoric 

 Society of East Anglia, of which he was one of the 

 founders and first president in 1908. He also did much 

 to advance our knowledge of the Stone age by his 

 stimulating help to fellow-workers. Dr. Sturge's great 

 collection of stone implements is bequeathed to the 

 British Museum. 



NO. 2580, VOL. 103] 



We learn from the Biochemische Zeitschrift that 

 Prof. R. Robert died at Rostock on December 27, 

 1918, at sixty-four years of age. Prof. Robert had 

 taught pharmacology, physiological chemistry, aad the 

 history of medicine and pharmacy in the university of 

 that town since 1899. After having studied medicine 

 at Halle he became assistant to Schmiedeberg at 

 Strasburg in 1882. The latter's pharmacological in- 

 stitute, founded a little earlier, was at that time the 

 only laboratory of its kind in Germany, the others 

 being at Dorpat and Vienna. In 1886 Robert suc- 

 ceeded Buchheim as professor of pharmacology at 

 Dorpat, where Dragendorff then was professor of 

 pharmacy, but the Russification of the university in 

 1897 terminated the work of its German teachers, 

 including Robert. The deceased was a prolific author 

 of compilations on pharmacology, toxicology, etc., and 

 of papers on ergot, the saponins, the vegetable 

 haemolysins, and other subjects. 



Sir Auckland Geddes, Minister of National Ser- 

 vice and Reconstruction, has resigned his office, and 

 will return to McGill University, Montreal, where 

 he will succeed Sir William Peterson as principal. 

 He was professor of anatomy at the University when 

 the war broke out, and stipulated, on acceptmg the 

 chair, that in the event of hostilities he should be at 

 liberty to resign without notice. His connection with 

 the University was not, however, broken ; for the 

 governors did not accept his resignation, and he has 

 been on leave from his chair throughout the war. 

 When he became Minister of National Service it was 

 on the understanding that he should be free at the 

 end of the war to devote his life to politics or return 

 to university work. The Prime Minister has testified 

 that Sir Auckland Geddes's work during the war 

 "has been of inestimable value to the country"; and, 

 as principal of MoGill University, his services to 

 scientific education and advancement are likely to 

 have an equally strong influence upon the destinies 

 of the Dominion and the Empire. 



Dr. E. J. Russell has been elected a foreign 

 member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agricul- 

 ture, Stockholm. 



Mr. R. A. Gregory has been elected a member of 

 the -Athenaeum Club under the provisions of the rule 

 of the club which empowers the annual election by 

 the committee of " a certain number of persons of dis- 

 tinguished eminence in science, literature, or the arts, 

 or for public services." 



The death occurred on April 2, at eighty-seven years 

 of age, of Dr. Edward Liveing, emeritus registrar 

 of the Royal College of Physicians of London, and 

 the author of a volume on " Megrim : A Contribution 

 to the Pathology of Nerve Storms." 



.'Vccording to the Miincherwr inedizinische Wochen- 

 schrift, the Griesheim-Elektron Chemical Works now 

 manufacture an almost pure calcium hypochlorite 

 under the name "hyporit." This contains 80 per cent, 

 of available chlorine (as compared with 36 per cent, 

 in the best bleaching powder), and is a stable white 

 powder dissolving readily in water to a very faintly 

 alkaline solution, which can be used instead of Dakin's 

 solution for the irrigation of wounds and for other 

 purposes. The impurities are a small quantity of 

 calcium chloride and very little lime. This is the first 

 stable solid hypochlorite manufactured on a large 

 scale. 



A Red Cross Conference is now being held at 

 Cannes. On April 15 the delegates, presided over by 

 Dr. Herman Biggs, Public Health Cotnmissioner, 

 New York State, discussed the desirability of setting 



