404 



NATURE 



[June 2, 1910 



disease. It was found, however, that although there 

 was amelioration in the condition of the patient in 

 the early stages of the treatment, the drug soon lost 

 its effect, whilst certain sequelae, e.g. bhndness, the 

 results of the action of the driig, led men to be 

 exceedingly chary of using it. In connection with 

 sleeping sickness, Koch, following up Bruce's theory 

 of a living reservoir in which certain parasites might 

 exist without giving rise to any definite and appreci- 

 able disease, instancing the wild buffalo, where the 

 parasite is kept alive in its host without apparently 

 doing any damage, but ready to attack non- 

 immunised animals when carried to them by the 

 tsetse fly {Glosshia morsitans), Koch suggested that the 

 crocodile might be the reservoir host of the trypano- 

 some that gives rise, when carried to the human being 

 by another tsetse fly {Glossina palpalis), to sleep- 

 ing sickness, and he then made the suggestion, after- 

 wards carried out, that the infective zone around 

 certain waters should be cleared of its underwood, 

 and the crocodiles lurking there _and in the neighbour- 

 ing waters killed. Koch also worked at malaria in 

 Java and in the Malay Peninsula. He studied black- 

 water fever and tried to determine its relation to 

 malaria, or, alternatively, to quinine poisoning con- 

 tracted during the treatment of malaria. 



Koch's last great public appearance was at the 

 Washington Congress on Tuberculosis in 1908, when 

 he announced that he intended to devote the remain- 

 ing years of his life to the settling of the question 

 that he had raised in London eight years earlier, and 

 everyone hoped that he had some years of useful work 

 before him. These years have been all too few, and 

 we cannot expect that the work he then undertook is 

 finished. 



The record of a man's work is his best obituary 

 notice — and in such a case as that now under con- 

 sideration the writer is relieved of an enormous 

 responsibility — but this notice would be very incom- 

 plete did it not contain some record of the honours 

 accorded to him by his fellows, especially those who 

 followed and appreciated his work. Robert Koch was 

 an honorarv member of a very large number of 

 learned associations, amongst them of the Prussian 

 Academv and of the Royal Society of London. He 

 had been invested with the Prussian and French 

 Orders of Merit, and with orders of various kinds 

 awarded by the rulers of almost every State in 

 Europe. In some cases these distinctions might mean 

 but Uttle to those who come after us, but, associated 

 with Koch's name, they must ever retain their signifi- 

 cance as associated with one of the names on the 

 imperishable roll of the great in science. The death 

 of Robert Koch involves a loss not to Germany only 

 — all mankind is the poorer. 



MAJOR PHILIP CARDEW, R.E. 



MAJOR PHILIP CARDEW, whose death we re- 

 cord with deep regret, combined a fine mathe- 

 matical mind with careful scientific training, and a 

 remarkable natural ability in grasping the principles 

 involved in any practical question. He passed through 

 Woolwich Academy with every honour, and started a 

 brilliant career in the Royal Engineers in 1871. He 

 was appointed, in 1883, instructor in electricity at the 

 Military School of Engineering at Chatham, and 

 threw himself with great energy into those innumer- 

 able electrical problems which were being so rapidly 

 developed in telegraphy, telephony, electric lighting 

 and power. In 1888 he was selected as the first 

 electrical adviser to the Board of Trade, and he 

 inaugurated the rules and regulations for the use of 

 electricity for public supply and for electric tramways 

 and railways. These rules have formed a model for 



NO. 2 1 18, VOL. 83] 



all countries, and there is very little doubt that the 

 freedom of water and gas pipes in England from 

 electrolysis due to stray tramway currents is the result 

 of the wise restrictions which Major Cardew initiated. 

 The standardisation of electrical units was part of his 

 work. 



When Major Cardew retired from the Board of 

 Trade his energies were diverted into the execution of 

 various lighting, power, and traction schemes. Under 

 his personal guidance, every Government dockyard in 

 the British Empire has been equipped with electric 

 power, and numerous electric railways, tramways, and 

 lighting systems originated. He was a prolific in- 

 ventor, and his vibrator is largely in use in connection 

 with military telegraphs, while the hot-wire voltmeter 

 which bears his name was for years one of the few 

 trustworthy electrical instruments. The Cardew safety 

 earthing device has also been of great_ value in con- 

 nection with the public supply of electricity. 



Major Cardew contributed a number of papers on- 

 electrical subjects to the Royal Society and the Insti- 

 tution of Electrical Engineers. 



His death, at the early age of fifty-eight, is greatly 

 to be regretted. He was intimately associated with 

 all the modern developments of electricity, and his 

 experience and advice were much in demand. 



NOTES. 



In consequence of the death of King Edward VII., the 

 usual ladies' conversazione of the Royal Society will not 

 be held this year. 



At a meeting of the council of the Royal Society, held 

 on Thursday, May 26, at Burlington House, an address 

 of condolence and homage to His Majesty King George V. 

 was adopted, and the society's seal affixed. At the ordinary 

 meeting of the society, which followed, the address was 

 communicated to the fellows present by the president. Sir 

 Archibald Geikie, who spoke as follows :— " Since the last 

 meeting of the society a great calamity has unexpectedly 

 befallen the country, and under the shadow of that 

 mournful event we now resume our duties. The death of 

 King Edward is a national loss, the full effect and mean- 

 ing of which cannot yet be appreciated. We, fellows of 

 the Royal Society, share in the universal sorrow that a 

 life so revered, so full of achievement, and with the 

 promise of still many fruitful years, should have been cut 

 short in its prime. But we have also a more personal 

 ground for regret. The late King had been for nearly 

 half a century one of our fellows, and on his accession to 

 the throne had become our patron. Among the many 

 claims which His Majesty had to our regard, not the least 

 was the interest which he always took in the furtherance 

 of that natural knowledge which the Royal Society was 

 founded by Charles II. to promote. In our annals th^ 

 name of King Edward VII. will always hold an honoured 

 place. The council has approved and sealed an address tc 

 His Majesty King George V. in which, while expressing 

 our condolence in the deep grief of the Royal Family, w« 

 offer our respectful congratulations on his accession to the 

 throne of his ancestors, and our confident hope that hi^ 

 reign may be long and prosperous." The address was 

 then read from the chair, and was adopted in silence, the 

 fellows present all standing. 



As we go to press, the Terra Nova is starting on h 

 journey with the British Antarctic Expedition, and,^ after 

 calling at a number of places, is expected to arrive at 

 Lyttelton, New Zealand, about October 13. Hitherto 

 .Antarctic expeditions have sailed to the south in the latter 



the 



