476 



NATURE 



[March 15, 1900 



Prof. D. E. Hughes, F.R.S., whose whole estate has been 

 valued at 473,034/. gross, including personality of the net value 

 of 472,704/., has left the greater part of his property to the 

 Middlesex Hospital, London Hospital, King's College Hospital, 

 and Charing Cross Hospital. A considerable sum has also been 

 left to various scientific societies. By his will of May 9, 1893, 

 he bequeathed to the Institution of Electrical Engineers, of 

 which he was a past president, 2000/. for a David Hughes 

 Scholarship Fund, similar to the Sir David Solomons Scholar- 

 ship Fund ; to the Society internationale des Electriciens in 

 Paris, of which he was a member, 2000/. for a scholarship fund ; 

 to the Royal Society, 4000/. to apply the income in prizes for 

 original discoveries in physical sciences, particularly in electricity 

 and magnetism ; to the Paris Academy of Sciences, 4000/. for 

 the same purposes ; and to the Royal Institution of Great 

 Britain, in Albemarle-street, 1000/. for its general purposes. The 

 sum at present available for the Hughes Hospital Fund seems 

 likely to be between 300,000/. and 350,000/, and eventually over 

 400,000/. 



Referring to the death of Mr, Leander J. McCormick, o^ 

 Chicago, at the age of eighty-one, the Athenaeutn recalls the 

 fact that he was an inventor of agricultural machinery as well 

 as a munificent patron of astronomical science. His father 

 was the well-known Robert McCormick, of Virginia, a pioneer 

 in the construction of apparatus for reaping by machinery. At 

 his death, in 1846, the development and improvement of the 

 mechanism of the original reaper devolved upon the son, him- 

 self a man of skill and resource. As regards the encouragement 

 of astronomical research Mr. McCormick was no laggard, and 

 he scands out prominently among those American citizens who 

 have liberally contributed to the promotion of the work of obser- 

 vation. He gave to the University of Virginia the existing 

 astronomical observatory which bears his name, the cost of 

 building and equipment reaching the total of 20,000/. It was 

 the desire of Mr. McCormick that the telescope and equipment 

 should be the best of the kind in the world, and at the time of 

 inauguration such was probably the case. 



The Memorandum by the Financial Secretary to the 

 Treasury on the estimates for Civil Services for the year ending 

 March 31, 1901, has iust been issued as a Parliamentary 

 paper. Among the works entailing additional expenditure are 

 included the adaptation of the Imperial Institute (London 

 University) buildings, 8770/. ; a new Die and Medal Depart- 

 ment of the Royal Mint, 8300/. ; and Census Office buildings, 

 4000/. The addition of 5751/. for the Local Government 

 Board includes 4000/. for extended arrangements for the supply 

 of glycerinated calf-lymph. An interesting item is that on the 

 Science and Art Department services the increase of 26,643/. is 

 required mainly to meet the growing requirement for grants to 

 science classes and schools of science. It is further mentioned 

 that provision has been made for changes of organisation 

 which have been adopted on the recommendation of the 

 Departmental Committee appointed to consider measures for 

 carrying into effect the Board of Education Act, which comes 

 into force on April i. A new item in the vote for scientific 

 investigation is that of 11,250/. for a grant in aid of the 

 National Antarctic Expedition, being the first of four annual 

 instalments which are proposed to make up a total Government 

 contribution of 45,000/. Reference is made to the fact that 

 the total Government contribution in aid of the expenses of the 

 Royal Commission for the British Section at the Paris Inter- 

 national Exhibition, 1900, will be made up to 125,000/. 



We learn from Science that the Committee of Mines and 



Mining of the House of Representatives has reported favourably 



on a bill creating a department of mines and mining, with a 



cabinet minister. The Geological Survey would be transferred 



NO. 1585, VOL. 61] 



to this department. There is also a bill before Congress estab- 

 lishing a department of Commerce and Manufactures, to which 

 it is proposed to transfer the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as 

 the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Su«%py, the Patent Office, the 

 Commission of Fish and Fisheries, and the Bureau of Naviga- 

 tion. The Treasury Bureau of Statistics and the Bureau of 

 Foreign Commerce of the State Department are to be consoli- 

 dated into a single bureau of the department. The principal 

 new offices created are the secretary and assistant secretary of 

 commerce and industries, the secretary receiving a salary of 

 8000 dollars and the assistant secretary 4000 dollars. 



The report of the Council of the National Association for the 

 Prevention of Consumption and other forms of tuberculosis, 

 presented to the first annual meeting on Tuesday, was a very 

 satisfactory expression of the growth and activity of the Associa- 

 tion since its foundation. With the object of focussing the 

 information obtained concerning- tuberculosis, an international 

 congress will be held in London next year, under the presidency 

 of the Prince of Wales, who will open it in person. The 

 Council have received many representations, both from indi- 

 viduals and societies, as to the wide-spread habit of spitting on 

 pavements, and more especially in vehicles and closed public 

 places. As this habit is not only offensive, but a direct cause of 

 spreading consumption, the Council have asked the various 

 railway companies to post up on their premises a card printed 

 by the Association urging persons to repress as far as possible 

 the highly dangerous habit. Consideration has been given to 

 the preparation of a leaflet on the treatment of milk, but in 

 view of the researches that are still being made as to methods 

 of sterilisation, publication has been postponed until some more 

 definite results have been arrived at. Despite correspondence 

 urging them to bring pressure on the Government for more 

 stringent legislation in respect of supervision of milk and meat, 

 the Council have considered it advisable to confine their efforts, 

 for the present, more to the enlightenment of public opinion 

 than to agitation of a political character. 



A MEMORIAL pamphlet in appreciation of the late Josef 

 Loschmidt, Professor of Physics in the University of Vienna 

 from 1868 to 1 89 1, has been issued by the Vienna Loschmidt 

 Memorial Committee. This Committee was formed largely at 

 the instigation of the Chemical and Physical Society of Vienna, 

 for erecting a monumental tablet to the illustrious physicist 

 within the precints of the University, and the object of the Com- 

 mittee was achieved on November 5 of last year, when the 

 monument was unveiled in the presence of a large assembly. 

 It occupies a fitting place opposite the memorial to Stefan, 

 by whom Loschmidt was first put in the way of prosecuting 

 scientific researches in 1867. The pamphlet now issued by the 

 Committee includes the obituary discourse delivered to the 

 Society by Prof. Boltzmann shortly after Loschmidt's death, 

 and an account of the proceedings at the unveiling of the 

 memorial, including speeches by the Oberst von Obermayer, 

 Chairman of the Committee, Prof. Neumann, Rector of the 

 University, and an oration on the work of Loschmidt by 

 Prof. Boltzmann, than whom none could better appreciate his 

 contributions to the advancement of our knowledge of mole- 

 cular physics. 



An interesting series of observations on the temperature oi 

 the animal body during fasting, and the rate of assimilation of 

 carbohydrates, is described by Prof. Ugolino Mosso in the Atti 

 dei Lincei, the experiments being conducted in the University of 

 Genoa. The experiments are particularly interesting in establish- 

 ing the efficacy of sugar in raising the temperature of an animal 

 which has fallen during a period of fasting. Thus, from one to 

 four grammes of sugar per kilogramme cause a rapid rise o 



