July 19, 1900] 



NATURE 



271 



Grants were made to the Committee on Anthropo- 

 metric Measurements ; to the Committee on the Quanti- 

 tative Study of Biological Variation ; to the Committee on 

 the Study of Blind Vertebrates ; and to the Committee 

 on Study of the Relation of Plants to Climate. The 

 last two committees were established at this meeting. 

 The one on Blind Vertebrates consists of Mr. Theodore 

 N. Gill (chairman), Messrs. A. S. Packard, C. O. 

 Whitman, S. H. Gage, H. C. Bumpus and C. H. 

 Eigenmann. The one on Relation of Plants to Climate 

 consists of Messrs. Wm. Trelease, D. T. MacDougall 

 nd J. M. Coulter. 



Resolutions were adopted urging upon the Government 

 of the United States (i) the establishment of a bureau of 

 standards in connection with the U.S. Ofifice of Standard 

 Weights and Measures ; (2) the establishment of a Govern- 

 ment Reservation in the Primeval Redwood Forest, 

 situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California ; and 

 {3) the establishment of a Government Reservation in 

 some portion of the hard wood forests of the Southern 

 Appalachian region. 



At the meeting of the General Committee held on the 

 evening of the June 28, the city of Denver, Colorado, was 

 chosen as the place for the next meeting, and the time 

 selected was the week ending August 31. The choice of 

 Pittsburg, Pa., as a meeting place in 1902 was 

 recommended by formal resolution. 



On the same evening the following officers for the en- 

 suing year were elected : — For President, Prof. Charles 

 Sedgwick Minot, of the Harvard Medical School ; for 

 Vice-Presidents, as follows : — Section A, Mathematics and 

 Astronomy, Prof. James MacMahon, of Cornell Univer- 

 sity ; Section B, Physics, Prof. D. T. Brace, of the Uni- 

 versity of Nebraska ; Section C, Chemistry, Prof. John H. 

 Long, of the North-western University ; Section D, 

 Mechanical Science and Engineering, Prof. H. S. 

 Jacoby, of Cornell University ; Section E, Geology and 

 Geography, Prof. C. R. Van Hise, of the University of 

 Wisconsin ; Section F, Zoology, Prof. D. S. Jordan, of 

 Stanford University ; Section G, Botany, Mr. B. T. 

 Galloway, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture ; Sec- 

 tion H, Anthropology, Mr. J. Walter Fewkes, of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology ; Section I, Social and 

 Economic Science, Mr. John Hyde, Statistician, U.S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture. General Secretary, Prof. Wm. 

 Hallock, Columbia University ; Secretary to the Council, 

 Dr. D. T. MacDougall, New York Botanical Gardens. 



THE WELLCOME RESEARCH 

 LABORATORIES. 

 T T is a remarkable sign of the times when the head of 

 ■■• a firm principally distinguished for the introduction 

 into this country of American methods of dealing with 

 drugs, i.e. by putting them up in new and convenient 

 shapes and doses, goes out of his way to fit up extensive 

 research laboratories. This is what Mr. Wellcome has 

 done. In 1896 laboratories were established in the busi- 

 ness premises of the firm in Snow Hill. Now, after four 

 years, during which the work continued to grow, it has 

 been found necessary to give a complete house to the de- 

 partment. A well-built modern house has been secured 

 at No. 6 King Street, Snow Hill, and has been converted 

 into a series of three commodious and well-fitted labora- 

 tories, a library and office, and a store-room and workshop- 

 laboratory. Each laboratory is self-contained, and each 

 is connected with the other and with the directors' office 

 by means of telephones. The basement contains a good- 

 sized electric motor, and a dark room for polarimetric and 

 photographic work. Use has been made of the electric 

 mains to heat radiators for the distillation of ether, benz- 

 ene and other inflammable liquids. The whole is under 

 the direction of Dr. T. B. Power, F.I.C., who has a staflf 



NO. [633 . VOL. 62] 



of four assistants, all men who have been carefully selected 

 for their attainments and skill in actual research. 



Mr. Wellcome is to be congratulated on his enterprise. 

 His firm, considering the nature of their business, might 

 well have acted on the supposition that research was not 

 strictly within their province. They might have argued, 

 " Research is the business of the drug manufacturer and 

 the manufacturing chemist ; it does not concern the com- 

 pounder of medicines." Their success in former years is 

 a solid argument in favour of such a view, which can be 

 very easily strengthened by a consideration of the success 

 of many firms who have pursued an exactly similar line 

 of business. 



Mr. Wellcome intends to carry on his laboratories in 

 no narrow spirit ; this means, I presume, that he has 

 other views than the conversion of his business into a 

 chemical manufacturing concern. Though much work 

 is done towards the perfection of the firm's preparations, 

 time has been found for several researches which have 

 been published, and other work of this kind is in hand. 

 At present the bulk of the work is carried out on the 

 natural drugs, very little having been undertaken in the 

 direction of investigations leading to the discovery or 

 further knowledge of the properties of artificial medicinal 

 substances. There is undoubtedly a vast field in the 

 direction so far pursued, but every one must hope that 

 the other will not be neglected, and that at length this 

 country may make a contribution to the number of sub- 

 stances of medicinal value derived directly and not 

 through the medium of plant or other life from the 

 carbon compounds of the aromatic series. 



The laboratories were informally opened on June 18, 

 when at Mr. Wellcome's invitation a number of gentle- 

 men interested in science, together with some representa- 

 tives of the Press, were received by Dr. Power and 

 conducted over the building. All interested in the 

 advance of chemistry, whether pure or applied, will wish 

 Mr. Wellcome success, and also that he may find imitators 

 among the numbers of firms who are meditating an 

 advance in the direction of a more scientific method of 

 conducting their manufactures. R. J. Friswell. 



NOTES. 

 In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr. Goschen an- 

 nounced that a committee of experts would be appointed to 

 inquire into the efficiency of water-tube boilers in actual opera- 

 tion in different types of ships of H.M. Navy. 



The Additional Estimate for the Navy for the year 1900- 

 190 1 includes 9500/. for wireless telegraphy apparatus ; 3600/. 

 for telescopic sights for quick-firing guns ; and 16,500/. for 

 gyroscopes for Whitehead torpedoes. 



The scientific congresses to be opened in connection with the 

 Paris Exposition during the present month are : — July 19-25, 

 applied mechanics; July 23-28, applied chemistry ; July 19-21, 

 naval architecture and construction ; July 28-August 3, naviga- 

 gation ; July 28-August 4, chronometry ; July 23-28, photo- 

 graphy ; July 18-21, homoeopathy; July 23-28, professional 

 medicine; July 27-29, medical press; July 27-August i, 

 electrology and medical radiology. 



We have been notified that the title of the subject for dis- 

 cussion at the joint meetings of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers 

 to be held in the American Pavilion in the Paris Exhibition on 

 the morning of Thursday, August 16, is " The relative advan- 

 tages of alternate and continuous current for a general supply of 

 electricity, especially with regard to interference with other 

 interests." We understand it is specially desired to discuss how 



