June 18, 1914! 
NATURE 
405 
to the inspection of cows, cowsheds, and milk 
shops, the prevention of infection and contamina- 
tion of milk, the mixing of milk with separated 
milk or other substances, and conditions of 
storage and transit. These regulations appar- 
ently are to be enforced by a new set of authori- 
ties—the county councils instead of the district 
councils—which is a step in the right direction, 
and by means of a staff which, in addition to the 
medical officers of health, is to include veterinary 
officers and bacteriologists. A sound principle is 
likewise adopted by making each authority re- 
sponsible for the milk produced in its own area, 
and also by enabling the authorities in the town 
to requisition action by the authorities in the 
country as a result of bacteriological or other 
sufficient evidence against the milk. .A clause in 
the Bill introduces a drastic change in the practice 
of dealing with adulterated milk. Milk is now 
to be regarded as genuine, however low the per- 
centage of fat, provided it can be proved that it 
has not been tampered with after leaving the cow. 
Though not perfect, the present Bill is un- 
doubtedly an improvement on its predecessors, 
but there seems little prospect of its passing 
during the present session of Parliament. 
Rete Hewlett. 
THE COMMEMORATION OF ROGER 
BACON AT OXFORD. 
ae the year 1214 saw the birth of Roger 
Bacon is rather a matter of probable infer- 
ence than of certainty. There is, however, good 
evidence that he died in 1292, and was buried on 
St. Barnabas’ Day (June 11) in the precincts of 
the Grey Friars at Oxford, a quarter of the city 
which is now known as Paradise Square. Hence 
there was sufficient reason for the celebration at 
Oxford on June 1o of what was called the ‘seventh 
centenary” of the great Franciscan, and for the 
gathering together of representatives from many 
parts to do honour to the memory of one who, as 
the unflinching advocate of experimental science 
as against authority, was held by Humboldt to 
be “the most important phenomenon of the Middle 
Ages.” 
No record appears to exist of the characteristics 
of Bacon in form and feature. In the statue, 
however, which was unveiled at the University 
Museum on June 10, Mr. Hope Pinker has con- 
trived to give the impression of alertness, shrewd- 
ness, and pugnacity—qualities which his subject 
most certainly possessed in full measure. The 
face also carries a suggestion of humorous depre- 
ciation, which sits not inappropriately on the effigy 
of the man who professed to be able to teach any- 
one to read Greek in three days, and who would 
fain have burned all the then existing translations 
of Aristotle. But whether the sculptor has or has 
not succeeded in reconstructing the bodily aspect 
of the real Roger, a point which can never be 
decided, there is no doubt as to the accuracy of 
his presentment of the Franciscan garb, or of the 
astrolabe held in the strenuous grasp of the friar. 
In his speech preparatory to the unveiling, Sir 
NO. 2329, VOL. 93] 
Archibald Geikie laid due stress on the greatness 
of Roger Bacon as a pioneer of the experimental 
method in science. ‘‘Dispensing with the futile 
disputational subtleties of the schoolmen of his 
day, he strove to concentrate attention on things 
rather than words. He led the way towards the 
conception of science as the inductive study of 
nature, based on and tested by experiment.” A 
similar note was struck by Lord Curzon, who in 
his capacity of Chancellor accepted the statue on 
behalf of the University of Oxford. After recount- 
ing the various branches of learning which Bacon 
had studied and on which he had written, a list 
which includes not only nearly all that we under- 
stand by physical science, but also moral and 
political philosophy, the Chancellor went on to 
Roger Bacon Statue in the University Museum, Oxford. 
point out that in these sciences Bacon was not 
a mere amateur. “He did not dabble with them, 
so to speak, in holiday hours, but studied them 
profoundly.” Moreover, he wrote with intense 
conviction about their essential interdependence 
one on the other. 
Following the ceremony of unveiling, an address 
was delivered by the Public Orator of the Uni- 
versity, Mr. A. D. Godley, of Magdalen College. 
In elegant Latin periods the orator paid tribute 
to the diligence and fearlessness which had enabled 
Roger Bacon to accomplish a great work in the 
face of difficulties. Turning towards the statue, 
he exclaimed :— 
Welcome, Friar Roger, on your return to Oxford! 
You here behold the fruit of your labours. . . . Hence- 
forth may your bodily likeness stand in that shrine of 
science where we witness the fulfilment of your prayers 
