March 2, 1916] 



NATURE 



II 



perceived, influences on all the functions of the 

 body. These influences were exercised not alone 

 through visual, but also through auditory and 

 olfactory channels, likewise through cutaneous 

 sensory nerves. Nor was it actually necessary 

 that the food should be presented to produce the 

 psychic effects. A musical note or a bright colour, 

 or a pronounced odour, or a skin stimulus, if asso- 

 ciated with the presentation of food, would after 

 a short time become eft'ective alone. Nothing 

 could be more impressive than to see, as the writer 

 has witnessed, a flow of saliva start on the sound 

 of a musical note, except it be the failure to do so 

 on sounding a note not more than a quarter of a 

 tone different from the effective one. 



To these phenomena Pavlov gave the name of 

 "conditioned reflexes," and the greater part of 

 his activity from 1901 onwards consisted in 

 making use of them for the objective study of the 

 psychical faculties in higher animals. He claimed 

 that he was thereby restoring to physiology what 

 properly belonged to it, and what had been 

 divorced from it under the name of psychology 

 or psycho-physics. On one point he was very em- 

 phatic, namely, that it is only by an active inter- 

 change of opinion between the physiologist (using 

 the term in its widest sense) and the physician 

 that the common goal of medical science and medi- 

 cal art can best be reached. In his own work he 

 lived up to this maxim. 



Pavlov's fame now drew recognition from many 

 quarters and from various learned societies all over 

 the world. To mention a few of these : in 1904 

 he was awarded the Nobel prize, in 1907 he was 

 elected a foreign member of the Royal Society, 

 and the same year he was elected an ordinary 

 member of the Imperial Academy of Science, 

 Petrograd. In 191 2 he was awarded the 

 honorary degree of D.Sc. by Cambridge 

 University, Cambridge being the only one of 

 the older universities of Great Britain upon 

 the rolls of which Pavlov's name appears. It is 

 true a grace was passed by the Senate of Dublin 

 University to confer upyon him the honorary degree 

 of D.Sc, but illness at the time prevented him 

 from attending to have it conferred. In 191 3 he 

 was promoted to be director of the Imperial Insti- 

 tute of Experimental Medicine. The last honour 

 bestowed upon him in this country was by the 

 Royal Society in 191 5 in the form of the Copley 

 Medal for his investigations in biological science. 



Pavlov had a charming personality, and was 

 never happier than in the company of his 

 colleagues and pupils. He was impatient of any- 

 thing he conceived not to be strictly scientific. In 

 his later years he travelled a good deal, and was 

 present at several of the international congresses 

 of physiology. He visited this country twice, in 

 1906, when he delivered the Huxley lecture at 

 Charing Cross Hospital, his subject being "The 

 Scientific Investigation of the Psychical Faculties 

 or Processes in Higher Animals," and in 1912, 

 when he came as a delegate to the celebration of 

 the 2^oth anniversarv of the founding of theRoval 

 Society. ' W. H. tI 



NO. 2418, VOL. 97] 



SIR LAURENCE GOMME. 



BY the death of Sir Laurence Gomme on Febru- 

 ary 23, at sixty-two years of age, London 

 has lost a most devoted son who loved her with an 

 affection that was not merely filial, but was based 

 ufKDn an exhaustive knowledge of her history and 

 a profound faith in her destiny; more than that, 

 he spent all his life in her service. In early life 

 Sir Laurence Gomme entered first the service of 

 the Fulham District Board of Works, and then 

 that of the Metropolitan Board of Works ; when 

 the London County Council was established he 

 joined the Comptroller's Department, then he was 

 made head of the Statistical Department, and in 

 1900 was appointed Clerk to the Council, which 

 high office he held until last March. He always 

 worked very hard, often up to the very limit of 

 his powers, and about two years ago he had a 

 serious breakdown in health, from which he never 

 fully recovered. Only those conversant with the 

 scope of the London County Council can have any 

 idea of what London owes to him. His annual 

 "Statistical Abstract" of the L.C.C. has served 

 as a model for other municipal bodies. His first 

 book, "Index of Municipal Offices," was pub- 

 lished in 1879; it was followed by several others, 

 among which may be mentioned, "The London 

 County Council" (1888), "Lectures on the Prin- 

 ciples of Local Government" (1898), "London 

 Statutes" (1907), "The Governance of London" 

 (1907), "London, 1 837-1 897 " (1898), "The Mak- 

 ing of London" {1912), "London" (1914). 



Ethnology and folklore have lost a keen student 

 in Sir Laurence Gomme, who did more than any- 

 one else to found and direct the early career of the 

 Folklore Society, of which he was first secretary 

 and later president. He was president-elect of 

 Section H (Anthropology) of the meeting of the 

 British Association for the current year. The fol- 

 lowing list of books will give some idea of his 

 activities in the direction of folklore : " Primi- 

 tive Folkmoots" (1880), "Folklore Relics 

 of Early Village Life" (1883), "The Village 

 Community" (1890), "Ethnology in Folklore" 

 (1892), "Folklore as an Historical Science" 

 (1904). In addition to a remarkable output of 

 books, he published numerous papers on folklore 

 and allied subjects, all of which are marked bv 

 that breadth of view and sujj-p^estiveness which 

 was so characteristic of him. He always recog- 

 nised the great importance of method in ethnolo- 

 gical research, and he did his best to raise folk- 

 lore to a scientific status. 



Those who knew Sir Laurence well have lost 

 an inspiring and real friend, a genial personality, 

 and a comrade of wide interests and full of sym- 

 pathy for various cognate branches of study. He 

 was constantly helping others alike in science and 

 in the ever\'day walks of life. 



Sir Laurence married in 1875 Alice Bertha 

 Merck, author of "The Traditional Games of 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland " (1894-98), who 

 ably assisted her husband in numerous ways, and 

 has been a constant stimulus to him in his work. 



A. C. Haddox. 



