June 5, 1890] 



NATURE 



"^Zl 



After his return to reside in London he found the 

 duties of the office he had undertaken so engrossing, and 

 the cares of domestic life so exacting, as to leave him 

 little or no spare time for original inquiry. He devoted 

 such leisure as he could command to translating, 

 editing, and other scientific labour of a literary kind. 

 Biologists will especially remember the appearance of 

 his translation of Fritz Muller's " Facts and Arguments 

 for Darwin," shortly after the beginning of the controversy 

 aroused by " The Origin of Species." His wide range of 

 knowledge in natural science, and his literary tact and 

 experience, made him an unrivalled editor of a scientific 

 periodical. The volumes of The Quarterly Journal of the 

 Geological Society for the last twenty years will remain as 

 a memorial of the accuracy, skill, and punctuality of his 

 work. It will be difficult to find another assistant secretary 

 so deft and helpful as he : it will be, however, still harder 

 to discover one who to ample scientific acquirements and 

 long experience will unite a nature so gentle and kindly as 

 his, and a character so honourable and sincere. Mr. 

 Dallas may be said to have died in harness. Though for 

 some time he had been growing gfradually feebler, he 

 attended the evening meeting of the Geological Society 

 only a fortnight ago. But the hand of death was then 

 visibly upon him. Two days afterwards he was struck 

 down with paralysis, and, after lingering a week, died on 

 the morning of May 28, at the age of sixty-six. Last 

 Monday his associates of the Geological Society laid him 

 in his grave in the Norwood Cemetery. A. G. 



NOTES. 

 Besides the death of Mr. W. S. Dallas, the Assistant- 

 Secretary of the Geological Society, the ranks of the geo- 

 logists of this country were further thinned last week by the 

 loss of another well-known and most esteemed student of 

 geology — Mr. John Gunn, of Norwich. Though not distin- 

 guished as a writer on geological subjects, he has long been 

 looked up to as the chief authority on that most interesting 

 deposit — the Cromer Forest-bed ; and as the most indefatigable 

 and successful collector of its organic contents. He had, more- 

 over, an extensive knowledge of all the geological formations 

 of East Anglia. He was, likewise, fond of antiquarian re- 

 searches, and in early life did good service a mong the archaeo- 

 logical and ecclesiastical antiquities of his county. But while 

 always eagerly seeking fresh information and gathering a vast 

 store of facts in many departments of inquiry, he refrained from 

 rushing frequently into print, while on the other hand, with 

 generous self-abnegation, he was ever ready to place his mate- 

 rials at the service of science and the public. Every honest 

 inquirer was always welcome to any information or assistance 

 he could give. After amassing a magnificent suite of fossils, 

 illustrating especially the mammalian life of Pliocene time in 

 England, he presented it to the Norfolk and Norwich Museum, 

 where it forms one of the most attractive and instructive features 

 of the collection, and fills what is called after him the "Gunn 

 Room." Mr. Gunn had reached his eighty-ninth year. 



We are glad to gather from the statement made in the House 

 of Commons on May 22 by Sir John Gorst, in reply to a ques- 

 tion from Sir Henry Roscoe, that the new regulations which 

 will shortly be issued by the Civil Service Commission for the 

 competitions for admission to the higher branch of the Indian 

 Civil Service are, in the opinion of Sir John Gorst, likely to 

 satisfy the desire which is widely felt at the Universities and 

 elsewhere that they "shall secure more equal prospects of suc- 

 cess for those whose chief studies have been in science than are 

 at present accorded in these competitions." Those who are 

 j interested in this important educational question will be glad that 

 I Sir Henry Roscoe has directed the attention of the authorities at 

 NO. 1075. VOL. A2\ 



the India Office to this matter, and they will hope that if the new 

 regulations are not found to satisfy the necessities of the case, 

 he will continue his exertions. We do not wish to be prophets 

 of evil, but experience unfortunately shows that the Civil Service 

 Commissioners are by no means likely to put science subjects on 

 anything like a fairly equal footing with classics except under 

 considerable pressure from public opinion. It will therefore 

 be important that prompt combined action shall be taken 

 in support of Sir Henry Roscoe by those who have interested 

 themselves in the question, if the new regulations do not prove 

 to be of a satisfactory character. If the present opportunity of 

 securing that the conditions of admission to this important 

 service be put on a proper footing be lost, it may be long before 

 another occurs. Such action has, however, succeeded in other 

 cases, and ought to do so in this case also. 



In moving the Education Estimates on Tuesday evening, Sir 

 W. Hart Dyke gave an elaborate and most careful account 

 of the new Code, the leading provisions of which we have 

 already discussed. Among the speakers who took part in the 

 subsequent debate or conversation was Sir Henry Roscoe, who 

 congratulated the Vice-President on having for the first time 

 carried out some of the recommendations of the Royal Com- 

 mission on which he had had the honour to serve. He welcomed 

 the proposal to give a grant for manual instruction. He was 

 also pleased to learn that the Vice-President took to heart one 

 of the recommendations which laid the foundation for technical 

 instruction — a foundation which many of them for a long time 

 had hoped would be laid. It was gratifying to learn that already 

 great progress had been made in several of the larger towns 

 with regard to technical instruction. He hoped that the ques- 

 tion of drawing would progress. He thought the specialization 

 of science ought not to be made before the fourth standard. 

 The question of training teachers was one which referred to 

 probably the most important portion of the Code. He welcomed 

 all that it was proposed to do. He believed that the new Code 

 would mark an era in the educational progress of the country'. 

 Mr. Mundella, in the course of a short speech, said he had risen 

 only to express his thanks to the Vice-President of the Council 

 for the liberal provisions of his Code. He regretted, however, 

 that these provisions had not been somewhat extended. Why had 

 the Vice-President not gone somewhat further with respect to 

 the recommendations of the Royal Commission as to raising the 

 standard of age, and extending the school life of the child? 

 They might make the best and most liberal arrangements 

 for education, but if the child's school life was to end at 

 ten years of age, they were wasting their money. In 

 large towns there were thousands of children who 

 went to full-time labour after the fourth standard. In 

 many rural districts, especially in the west, the second 

 standard was the half-time standard, and two years ago that had 

 been the case in Bradford. Why could not the right hon. 

 gentleman screw up his courage and adopt the recommendation 

 of the Royal Commission, and do for England what was done 

 in Scotland? They should have a minimum standard for half- 

 time. He hoped that later on the right hon. gentleman would 

 be able to announce that he had made some provision for meeting 

 the suggestions which had been offered with regard to raising the 

 age at which the school life of the child should end, and raising 

 the full and half-time standards. 



A Deputy Linacre Professor of Human and Comparative 

 Anatomy is to be appointed at Oxford. He will hold office 

 during the continuance of Prof. Moseley's illness. Candidates 

 must send in their applications on or before June 21. 



Good progress has been made with the arrangements for the 

 fifty-eighth annual meeting of the British Medical Association, 

 under the presidency of Dr. W. F. Wade, senior physician to 



