404 



NA TURE 



[Juke i6, 1910 



This is a matter of great practical importance, since 

 the Maltese themselves refuse to believe that Malta 

 fever is milk-borne, although the Commission sent 

 out in 1904-5-6 to investigate the disease proved this 

 up to the hilt. Since then the Makese have been 

 exporting their Malta-fever-carrier goats, and spread- 

 ing this serious human disease far and near. That 

 this should be permitted would seem to be beyond 

 belief, but, looking nearer home, we must remembe- 

 that our own milk supply is not quite free from the 

 tubercle bacillus. 



The American Government attempted to import 

 Maltese goats in 1906. The drinking of the milk of 

 these gave rise to an epidemic of Malta fever on 

 board the vessel which conveyed them from Malta, 

 and a woman in the quarantine station in America 

 became infected. The sequel to this story is told in a 

 recent report of the Board of Agriculture of America. 

 The goats remained under strict quarantine and in- 

 spection for some two years, those showing marked 

 infection with Malta fever being slaughtered from time 

 to time. The result is that all the animals imported 

 have been slaughtered — even the kids born in America 

 —not a single animal could be saved, on account of 

 Malta-fever infection. 



This disease is becoming more widespread ever}' 

 year. Last year the Sleeping Sickness Commission 

 of the Royal Society discovered an epidemic of it 

 affecting a large part of the native population round 

 the shores of Lake Albert Edward, in the south-west 

 corner of Uganda, and the native goats in that out- 

 of-the-way place were found to be the carriers, just as 

 in Malta. 



In regard to the result of forbidding the use o" 

 goats' milk to the sailors and soldiers in Malta, it 

 cannot be too often repeated that this simple order at 

 once led to the extinction of the fever in the garrison. 

 This does not, of course, refer to the native popula- 

 tion, among whom the incidence of the disease is as 

 great as ever. In 1905, before the preventive measures 

 came into operation, there were 643 cases in the 

 Army alone; in 1906, 147; in 1907, 11; in 1908, 5; 

 in 1909, I ; in 1910, o. 



THE KING AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



A MONG the addresses received by the King at St. 

 ■^* James's Palace on June 9 was one from the 

 Royal Society, which was presented by a deputation 

 consisting of Sir Archibald Geikie (president). Sir 

 Andrew Noble (vice-president), Mr. A. B. Kempe 

 (treasurer and vice-president), Sir Joseph Larmor and 

 Prof. J. R. Bradford (secretaries), and Sir William 

 Crookes (foreign secretary), with Mr. R. Harrison 

 (assistant secretary) bearing the mace. 



In the course of the address it was stated : — 

 We are proud to remember that no less than forty-seven 

 years ago King Edward was graciously pleased to enter 

 the Fellowship of the Royal Society, and later, on his 

 accession to the Throne, to become our Patron. 



Your Majesty enters upon the duties of your high station 

 with a wider personal knowledge of the Empire and its 

 various peoples than was ever possessed by any previous 

 Sovereign of this country. Your subjects have had many 

 proofs that this extended knowledge has been accompanied 

 by an active sympathy with every cause and movement 

 that will promote their welfare and happiness. The interest 

 which your Majesty Has shown in the progress of discovery 

 and invention assures us that these elements of national 

 greatness will continue to receive your favour and protec- 

 tion. 



His Majesty replied as follows : — 



I thank you for the loyal address of condolence from 

 the president, council, and Fellows of the Royal Society 

 on the death of my beloved father. It is a consolation to 



NO. 2120, VOL. 83] 



feel that your society, numbering amongst its fellows the 

 most distinguished men of science of this country, 

 sympathises with me in my terrible bereavement. 



Your words of appreciation of the character of the late 

 King are very welcome to me. He always regarded with 

 the deepest interest those scientific discoveries, and those 

 applications of discoveries already made, which have been 

 of such supreme importance in the advancement of civilisa- 

 tion. I also have watched with close attention the work 

 of your society, and it is my sincere hope that its prosperity 

 will continue, and that a Fellowship of the Royal Society 

 will always be esteemed one of the highest honours which 

 can be earned by devotion to the cause of science. 



I desire to thank you most cordially for your congratula- 

 tions on my accession to the Throne, and to assure you 

 of my sympathy and support in your beneficent efforts for 

 the promotion of natural knowledge. I gladly accede to 

 your request that I should inscribe my name as Patron in 

 vour charter book. 



PROF. GEORGE F. BARKER. 

 pROF. BARKER, whose death was announced 

 ■*- last week, was one of the most genial men of 

 science on the other side of the Atlantic. He was a 

 frequent visitor in London, and invariably of recent 

 years, during the period of his stay, he was made an 

 honorary member of the Athenasum. He was born in 

 Charlestown, Mass., in 1835, ^"d died on May 25 

 last. He was educated in the Boston public schools, 

 finishing at Yale, where he graduated in 1858. 



The American system of education is continuous 

 and niethodical, and whatever line "of pursuit an 

 American boy is prepared for, he is ultimately turned 

 out well drilled for his future career. Barker com- 

 menced in the Albany Medical College, where he 

 received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1863, 

 and was appointed professor of chemistr}- at Wheaton 

 College, Illinois. Thence he proceeded to the 

 Western University of Pennsylvania in the same 

 capacity, but later he became professor of physio- 

 logical chemistry and toxicolog}'. In 1872 he was 

 appointed profes5or of physics at the Universitv of 

 Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, and there he taught 

 until 1900, when he retired on account of ill-health. 



Prof. Barker was an admirable teacher and ex- 

 pounder, but he did not undertake much research, and 

 therefore his name is not so well known in the scien- 

 tific world as that of many of his countrymen. He 

 was much engaged as an expert witness, especially in 

 patent cases. He acted as United States Commis- 

 sioner to the Paris Electrical Exhibition of 1881, to 

 the Electrical Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1884, 

 and he took a very prominent part on the jury of the 

 electrical department of the great exhibition in 

 Chicago in 1893. He was a past president of the 

 American Chemical Society and of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. He had 

 served as vice-president of the American Philosophical 

 Society, the headquarters of which are in Philadelphia, | 

 since 1899. His English friends will miss him ver 

 much when thev visit America. 



NOTES. 



Sir John Gavey, C.B., will deliver the James Forrest 

 lecture at the Institution of Civil Engineers on June 22. 

 The subject will be " Recent Developments of Telegraphy 

 and Telephony." 



A CONVERSAZIONE of the Institution of ' Electrical! 

 Engineers will be held at the Natural History Museum,| 

 South Kensington, on Tuesday, June 28. ? 



Prof. T. W. Richards has accepted the invitation of* 

 the council of the Chemical Society to deliver the Faradayg 

 lecture of the society next session. | 



