^34 



NATURE 



[December 6, 1894 



lion of Pasteur, adverse to spontaneous generation, and deci- 

 sive in attributing to living creatures, born fiotn previous living 

 creatures, not only fermentatioa and putrefaction, but a vast 

 array of the virulent diseases and blights, which had been most 

 destructive to men, and the lower animals and crops and fruits. 

 It is well that Helmholtz himself lived to see the great benefits 

 conferred on mankind by Pasteur's work ; and by the annul- 

 ment of the deadliness of compound fractures and the abolition 

 of hospital gangrene in virtue of Lister's aniisep'ic treatment ; 

 and by the sanitary defences against fevers and blights, realised 

 by many other distinguished men as practical applications of 

 the science which his own typhus fever of 1841 helped so much 

 to create. 



Close after his work on this subject and on animal heat, fol- 

 lowed investigations on the velocity of transmission along the 

 sensory nerves ol the disturbance to which sensation is due, the 

 time which the person perceiving the sensation takes to decide 

 what to do in consequence, and the velocity of transmission of 

 his orders along the motor nerv-es to the muscles which are to 

 carry out his will. Results of the highest scientific interest and 

 of large practical importance were given in two great papers 

 published in 1850.' This was followed a few years later by his 

 " Tonempfindungen," a great work not merely confined to the 

 perception of sound, but including mathematical and experi- 

 mental investigations on the inanimate external influences con- 

 cerned in sound, investigation of the anatomical structure of the 

 ear in virtue of which it perceives sound, and applications to 

 the philosophical foundation of the musical art ; which holds a 

 unique position in the literature of philosophy, and is certainly 

 a splendid monument to the genius and indomitable working 

 power of its author. Another great work of Helmholtz is his 

 " Physiologische Optik " ; who shall say which of the two 

 books is the more important, the more interesting, or the more 

 valuable ? Each of them has all these qualities to a wonder- 

 fully high degree. Perhaps the most interesting of his experi- 

 mental investigations in physiological optics was the measure- 

 ments, by his ophthalmometer, of the curvatures of the several 

 refracting surfaces constituting the lens-system of the eye, from 

 which he ascertained that it is almost altogether by changing 

 the curvature of the front surface of the crystalline lens that the 

 eye is accommodated by its possessor to vision at different 

 distances. His ophthalmoscope, by which for the first time he 

 himself saw and showed to others the retina of the living eye, 

 was a splendid and precious contribution to medicine. By 

 allowing that outlying portion of the brain to be distinctly seen 

 and examined, it has shown the cause of many illnesses which 

 had been regarded as hopelessly obscure ; and for diagnosis and 

 guidance of medical treatment, it is now continually used not 

 only by oculists, but by general practitioners. 



Constrained as I feel not to overtax your patience, I find it 

 impossible, on the present occasion, to enter upon Helmhollz's 

 researches in mathematics and mathematical physics farther than 

 just to mention his small but excjiiisite paper on anomalous 

 dispersion, and the grand contribution to hydrodynamics which 

 we have in his " Integrals of the Hydrodynamical Equations 

 which express Vottex Molion."- 



Sinceour last anniversary, important questions regarding the 

 coodoct of the ordinary meetings and the publication of papers, 

 both in the Tr,i>i!<uliotis and Proiecdinp of the Royal Society, 

 have l.een engaging the attention of the Council, with the 

 assistance of a committee appointed on July 5, 1893. The 

 final report of this committee was submitted to the Council on 

 July 5, 1894, when resolutions were adopted accepting some of 

 it« recommendations and deferring the consideration of others 

 until alter the recess. 



.\t the request of the Royal Geographical Society, a com- 

 mittee was appointed by the Council of the Royal Society to 

 consider the advisability of asking the Government to under- 

 take an .Xntarctic expedition. A very important and valuable 

 report ou the advantages which such an expedition would bring, 

 both to science and to practical navigation, was presented by 

 th-s committee to the Council on May 24. The Council, afier 

 much careful consideration, resolved to ask ih; Lords of the 

 Ailmiralty to grant an interview on the subject with repre- 

 senla'ives of the Royal Society. This request w.as assented to : 

 and an interview waj accordingly held between Ih; First Lord 



61. 

 ■ ton by Talt of 

 ■•'//in 1853, and 

 ' vVt>Mi.^UMftiit.he Alifiaodlungen, vol i. 



> H- 

 3 / 



the or.. 



which hai Lcc;i fcj/uUtJied li> 



pp. Joi 134. 



NO. 1310, VOL. 51] 



of the Admiralty and representatives of the Royal Society ; 

 but the proposal of an Antarctic expedition was not favourably 

 received. 



The Joule Fund Committee submitted its report on December 

 7, 1S93, and the Council, on its recommendation, adopted the 

 following resolutions : — 



L That the regulations for administering the Joule-Memorial 

 Fund be as follows : — 

 11) That the proceeds be applied in the form of a studentship 

 or grant, to be awarded every year, to assist research, 

 especially among younger men, in those branches of 

 phy>ical science more immediately connected with Joule's 

 work. 

 (2) That this grant be international in its character, and 

 awarded alternately in Great Britain and abroad, or in 

 such order as the President and Council shall fiom time 

 to time decide. 

 (31 That it be awarded in Great Britain by the President and 

 Council of the Royal Society ; and, for award in France, 

 offered to the Academic des Sciences, P.iris ; and in 

 Germany to the K. Akademie der Wis-enschaften, 

 Berlin ; or, in any other country, to the leading scientific 

 institution, for award in that country. 

 (4; That the award in Great Britain be made on the recom- 

 mendation of a committee, from time to time appointed 

 by the President and Council of the Royal Society, but 

 not of necessity confined to Fellows of the Society. 

 n. That a sum of ;^loo, which is now, or shortly will be, 

 available, for the first studentship or grant be awarded in 

 accordance with Regulation 4. 



The first appointment was accordingly madeon June 21, 1894, 

 when it was resolved : — 

 (i) " That a Joule Scholarship of the Royal Society Memorial 

 Fund be awarded to Mr J. D. Chorlton, of Owens 

 College, Manchester, for the purpose of enabling him to 

 carry on certain researches on lines laid down by Dr. 

 Joule, mor<: especially with the view of determining the 

 constants of some of the instruments employed by Dr. 

 Joule, which can be placed at his disposal by his 

 representatives." 

 (2) "That the value of the Scholarship be jfioo, payable 

 quarterly, on the certificate from the authorities of 

 Owens College that the researches are being conducted 

 in a satisfactory manner." 

 On the occasion ol Sir George Buchanan's retirement from 

 the post of Chief Medical Officer to the Local Government 

 Board, it w,as decided by some of his friends that a testimonial 

 should be presented to him, and a sum, amounting to about 

 ;^340, has been subscribed by medical officers of health, 

 sanitary engineers, and others interested in sanitary science. 

 It was resolved, on the suggestion of .Sir George Buchanan him- 

 self, that this testimonial should take the form of a medal, to 

 be awarded periodically for work done in connection with 

 sanitary science, and that the Royal Society should be asked 

 to administer the testimonial fund under the following con- 

 ditions : — 



(i) The money collected, after p.iying expenses incurred, to 

 be devoted — 



(a) To the foundation of a Gold Medal of the value as nearly 



as may be of twenty guineas, with a portrait of Sir George 

 Buchanan on the one side and an appropriate design on 

 the other, to be awarded every three or five years in 

 respect of distinguished services to Hygienic Science or 

 Practice, in the direction either of original research or of 

 professional, administrative, or constructive work. 



(b) To the bestowal on the recipient of the Medal of the 



amount (remaining after p.iying for the Medal and dis- 

 charging the incidental expenses) which has accumulated 

 since the last award. 



(2) The Medal to be awarded without limit of nationality or 

 sex. 



The Council of the Royal Society has accepted the trust 

 under these conditions ; and it was agreed that the first medal 

 should be given to Lady Buchanan by the tcstimonialists them- 

 selves. 



The Catalogue Department has been specially active in the 

 past session. Mr. I.udwig Mond's generous gift of £2000, 

 which I announced to the .Society in my anniversary address 

 last year, has given a new impulse lo our operations in that 

 department, and enabled us lo increase the staff of assistants. 

 Under the able superintendence of Miss Chambers, volume 10 



