352 



NA TURE 



[February 8, 1900 



on. At present no such funds are available ; for, as the Duke 

 of Devonshire frankly remarked, "It has not been thought 

 necessary for the Government to do so much for the fishing 

 industry of England as is done by a great many foreign countries, 

 notably by the United States, or even as much as is done for 

 Irish and Scotch Fisheries." If the Treasury will provide the 

 means by which the museum may be properly housed at South 

 Kensington or elsewhere, Mr. Ritchie said the Board of Trade 

 would undertake the working of it. The interests of science will 

 be served if, in whatever changes are made, it is borne in mind 

 that "the museum is not for the purpose of exhibiting models, 

 or attracting the attention of the curious, but a means to an 

 end, the end being proper investigation and research into the 

 habits offish, and other matters, with a view to developing the 

 industry in the way it ought to be developed." 



We learn from the Lancet that the president of the Board of 

 Agriculture has appointed a departmental committee to inquire 

 and report as to what regulations may be made by the Board in 

 regard to the standards of quality of milk and cream. The 

 difficulty in connection with proceedings taken under the Sale 

 of Food and Drugs Act has been to differentiate exactly 

 between abnormal milk, or milk which has been watered or 

 from which cream has been abstracted. It is to be hoped that 

 the long-vexed question of what is and what is not genuine 

 milk or cream may be decided by this committee by recom- 

 mending a system of fair standards. The committee will 

 consist of the following gentlemen :— Lord Wenlock (chair- 

 man), Mr. George Barham, Mr. George Cowan, Major Patrick 

 George Craigie, Mr. S. W. Farmer, Mr. Shirley Murphy, 

 Prof, Thorpe, and Mr. J. Augustus Voelcker. Mr. R. H. Rew 

 (of the Board of Agriculture) will serve as secretary to the 

 committee. 



We regret to learn that Sir Thomas Grainger Stewart, the 

 well-known Edinburgh physician, died last Saturday. He will 

 be missed by a large circle of friends and pupils, who will find 

 it difficult to replace their loss. Sir Thomas received his edu- 

 cation, both scholastic and collegiate, in Edinburgh ; at the 

 completion of his medical curriculum he travelled abroad, and 

 studied in Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. Me gave during this 

 time especial attention to medical pathology, and was fortunate 

 to be in this branch of learning a pupil of Virchow and the 

 veteran Rokitansky. The lite professor's most important con- 

 tribution to medical literature was the book published by him in 

 1868 on " Bright's Disease of the Kidneys" The hook is a 

 thorough and extensive description of the various renal affections 

 comprehended under lhi-> term, with many plates illustrating, 

 from cases under the author's ob-^ervation, the pathological 

 anatomy of this malady. Chemistry and physics, since the 

 publication of this work, have .shed considerable light upon the 

 subject. The book al.so contains supp'enientary chapters upon 

 other renal affections. In 1884 Prof. Stewart published a small 

 work, entitled "An Introduction to the Study of the Diseases 

 of the Nervous System," b-eing the subject-matter of a course 

 of lectures delivered by him. In 188S Fasciculus II. of his 

 clinical lectures on important symptoms, entitled "Albumin- 

 uria," appeared. This is a carefully written and insiructive 

 monograph, comprising several lectures, upon the varieties of 

 albuminuria, the cause and clinical significance of this symptom. 

 In 1893 ^" important clinical paper on " Grave's Disease " was 

 published by Sir Thomas in the Edinburgh Hospital Reports. 

 In 1882 Dr. Stewart was appointed Physician to the Queen in 

 Scotland, and in 1894 received the honour of Knighthood, being 

 nominated by Lord Rosebery. In addition, he received many 

 honorary degrees from English and foreign universities and 

 learned societies. He was frequently to be seen in an official 

 capacity at congress-s and medical reunions, and invariably 

 NO. 1580, VOL. 61] 



shone in their environment. His private practice was large, 

 and he will be greatly missed by many who owe to his care and 

 skill their health and happiness. In Edinburgh he was active 

 in connection with medical mission work, and this organisation 

 will find it difficult to replace him. 



The death of M. Marion, professor in the faculty of .sciences 

 in Marseilles University, and director of the natural history 

 museum there, was recently announced. M. Marion was a 

 correspondant of the Paris Academy, in the section of anatomy 

 of zoology. At Marseilles he gathered round him numerous 

 students, and created interest in zoological researches. In the 

 Endoume marine laboratory he investigated the organisms of 

 the Gulf of Lions, and questions relating to pisciculture. He 

 took part in all the dredging trips of the Travailleiir and the 

 Talisman, and collected much valuable material for study. The 

 investigations made by his pupils and himself are described in 

 the Annates du Museum de Marseille, 



The annual meeting of the Anthropological Institute was 

 held on Tuesday, January 30, The treasurer's report: 

 showed an improved financial position, and an increased 

 membership. The President, Mr, C. H. Read, delivered: 

 an addre-ss, in which he discussed the progress of 

 anthropological studies during the year, with special refer- 

 ence to the problems which have been more especially 

 subjects of discussion. He explained the prospects, and mode 

 of working, of the proposed bureau of ethnology, and indicated 

 the directions in which increased activity is to be expected or 

 encouraged in the near future, concluding with an eloquent 

 tribute to the memory of the late Sir W, H. Flower, one of the 

 most valued supporters of the Institute, and a past president- 

 The election of officers for 1900 resulted in the appointment of 

 Mr. Read as president, Mr. A, L. Lewis as treasurer, and Mr. 

 J, L. Myers as secretary. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Standard announces that 

 the Royal Prussian Meteorological Institute in Berlin is about 

 to make arrangements for the systematic examination of the 

 higher strata of the atmosphere by means of special apparatus. 

 In the grounds of the Aeronautical Observatory at Tegel — a 

 suburb of Berlin where Alexander and William von Humboldt 

 were buried — registrations of the atmospheric conditions at a 

 height of three to five thousand metres will be carried on, if 

 possible, day and night, with kites and kite-balloons. The. 

 registering apparatus, which automatically records the pressure, 

 temperature, humidity, and wind velocity, at these heights, is 

 taken up by a kite-balloon connected with the earth by piano 

 wire. An elevation of four thousand five hundred metres has 

 been attained by a train of kites even without balloons, when 

 there was sufficient wind. 



Mr. W. H. Mallock has versified parts of Lucretius— the 

 Roman poet of science — in the metre employed by FitzGerald in 

 Omar Khayyam's "Rubaiyat." The following two stanzas, 

 which we quote from the Academy, bring to mind Tennyson's 

 inspired lines on the same themes : — 



'llobed from the atoms falling slow or swift 

 I see the suns, I see the sysienis lift 



Their forms ; and even the systems and the suns 

 Shall go back slowly to the eternal drift. 



Those blue and .shining seas in delicate haze 

 Shall go ; and yonder sands forsake their place ; 



And where they are, shall other seas in turn 

 Mow with their scythes of whiteness other bays. 



The Photogram directs attention to the fact that February 11 

 is the centenary of the birth of William Henry Fox Talbot,— 

 the father of photography. To obtain for Talbot's work fuller 

 recognition than is usually given, the Photogram has com- 

 menced the publication of a series of articles on the early 



