226 



NATURE 



[May II, 1916 



The Nieuwe Courant learns from Frankfort that 

 Prof. August von Wassermann, at present head of the 

 Royal Institute for Infectious Diseases at Berlin, will 

 be appointed director of the Institute for Exf>erimental 

 Therapy and of the Georg Speyerhaus at Frankfort, 

 in succession to the late Prof. Paul Ehrlich. 



Sir R. Havelock Charles, Serjeant-Surgeon to the 

 King, and President of the Medical Board of the India 

 Office and of the Society of Tropical Medicine and 

 Hygiene, has, at the request of the Secretary of State 

 for India, accepted an invitation to become dean of 

 the London School of Tropical Medicine in succession 

 to the late Sir Francis Lovell. 



Announcement was made in the House of Commons 

 on May 8 that the following had been appointed a 

 Committee to inquire into the administration of the 

 Royal Flying Corps : — Mr. Justice Bailhache (chair- 

 man), Mr. J. G. Butcher, M.P., Mr. E. Shortt, M.P., 

 Mr. J. H. Balfour Browne, K.C., the' Hon. Sir C. 

 Parsons, K.C.B., and Mr. Charles Bright. A mili- 

 tary officer of high rank is to be invited to join the 

 Committee. 



On account of the war, the council of the British 

 Medical Association has decided to postpone as regards 

 1916 the holding of an annual meeting at Cambridge. 

 In the present circumstances the council has arranged 

 that the annual representative meeting and statutory 

 general meeting shall be held at the Connaught 

 Rooms, London, on Friday, July 28. In the annual 

 report, to be presented at that meeting, the council 

 recommends that Sir T. Clifford Allbutt be elected 

 president of the association for 19 16-17. 



Under the auspices of a commission appointed by 

 the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Petrograd, a 

 series of monographs is being published dealing with 

 the natural resources of the Russian Empire. No. 5 

 of the series (Petrograd, 19 16) treats of the native 

 sources of tungsten and tin ores. The author, P. P. 

 Suscinskij, says that hitherto neither the mining nor 

 the smelting of these ores has been organised on a 

 regular basis in Russia, but that quite recently, in 

 response to the requirements of Russian industry and 

 of the Imperial Defence Committee, an electro- 

 metallurgical company has been formed in Petrograd 

 for the preparation of special kinds of steel for the 

 Admiralty. The article concludes with an illustrated 

 account of Russian tungsten and tin mines. 



The annual meeting of the British Science Guild 

 will be held at the Royal Society of Medicine, i Wim- 

 pole Street, London, W., on Wednesday, May 17, at 

 4.0 p.m. The chair will be taken by the president, the 

 Right Hon. Sir William Mather, P.C, and an address 

 will be given by the Right Hon. Andrew Fisher, 

 P.C, High Commissioner for the Commonwealth of 

 Australia, on "The Establishment of a National Insti- 

 tute of Science and Industry in Australia." Other 

 speakers will be Sir Alfred Keogh, K.C.B., Dr. R. 

 Mullineux Walmsley, Sir John S. Young, and Prof. 

 J. Perry, F.R.S. On account of the public attention 

 recently given to the relation of science to national 

 affairs, the meeting this year will be of ■exceptional 

 interest. Tickets of admission may be obtained from 

 the secretary, British Science Guild, 199 Piccadilly, 

 London, W. 



Mr. Cornelius Hanbury, who died on April 11, in 

 his eighty-ninth year, was the chairman of the board 

 of directors of the well-known firm of Allen and Han- 

 burys, Ltd. Although Mr. Hanbury had trained and 

 qualified for the medical profession he entered the 

 business very early in his career, and eventually be- 



NO. 2428, VOL. 97] 



canie the sole proprietor. Under his able guidance 

 rapid development took place, laboratories and other 

 premises bemg established at Bethnal Green, and, 

 after the conversion of the business into a company, 

 at Ware also. He was cousin of the late Daniel 

 Hanbury, whose work in connection with the natural 

 history of drugs is recognised as classical, and also 

 of the late Sir Thomas Hanbury, whose magnificent 

 gardens at La Mortola, near Mentone, were the ad- 

 miration of every scientific botanist. Mr. Hanbury 

 served for some years on the council of the Pharma- 

 ceutical Society of Great Britain, acting as treasurer 

 from 1876 to 1878. 



Prof. H. P. Wijsman, whose death at Utrecht on 

 March 19 is announced, was the son of an Amsterdam 

 pharmacist, and studied at the Amsterdam University 

 under Profs, van't Hoif, de Vries, and Oudemans, 

 taking the degree of Doctor of Science In 1889. Very 

 shortly after graduating he was appointed chemist to 

 a yeast and spirit factory at Delft, but soon resigned 

 this position to become professor of toxicology at 

 Leyden University. To great versatility Prof. Wijs- 

 man added, In an unusual degree, the desire and 

 ability to organise. He was Instrumental in founding 

 a pharmaceutical laboratory in Leyden, and In estab- 

 lishing an analytical bureau and an Imperial control 

 station for milk, butter, and cheese. On his return 

 from the Dutch East Indies, he took an active interest 

 In the development of the celebrated Colonial Museum 

 of Haarlem and Its transference to the more central 

 position of Amsterdam. He represented the Dutch 

 Government at numerous scientific congresses, and 

 attracted considerable attention at the recent Inter- 

 national Pharmaceutical Congress at The Hague by 

 a lecture on the cultivation of Important plants In 

 Java, which was Illustrated by a series of klnemato- 

 graph films. Prof. Wljsman's ability and geniality 

 gained him many friends, and his loss will be felt 

 by his British as well as by his Dutch colleagues. 



The death of Mr. C. Lees Curties, which occurred 

 on April 24, will be greatly lamented by a large circle 

 of scientific men, many of whom will feel that they 

 have lost a personal friend, as well as a notable figure 

 In the optical world. He and his father before him 

 had built up a unique business, and 244 High Holborn 

 was regarded by many as a rendezvous where one was 

 sure to meet some kindred spirit and to hear the latest 

 scientific news. Mr. C. L. Curties greatly extended 

 the business by the establishment of a factory where 

 microscope stands are made, and of an optical depart- 

 ment for the construction of object glasses. He had 

 a thorough knowledge of the microscope (of which he 

 was a most expert manipulator), as well as a wide and 

 varied acquaintance with all sorts of scientific instru- 

 ments, owing to the great number that was constantly 

 passing through his hands. He was always ready to 

 place his expert knowledge at the disposal of anyone 

 who asked his a,dvice. There can be little doubt that 

 his death was hastened by the heavy strain due to 

 extra work on account of the war, and to his per- 

 sistent refusal to give himself a much-needed holiday. 



We have just learned with regret that Prof. Jules 

 Gosselet died at Lille on March 20, as the result of a 

 chill contracted while arranging his geological collec- 

 tion In the University after recent disturbance by the 

 bombardment of the city. Prof. Gosselet was born at 

 Cambrai (Nord) on April 19, 1832, and began his 

 well-known geological researches in the Franco-Bel- 

 gian coalfield and surrounding regions In 1852. From 

 1865 until 1902 he was professor of geology and 

 mineralogy in the University of Lille, and numbered 

 among his pupils many distinguished French geo- 



