APRIL 25, 1907 | 
NATURE 
611 
sembles other simple organisms, and that the essential | 
difference between one strain and another depends on 
variations in these factors, and they therefore classify 
the bacilli as dysgonic, those that grow with difficulty 
on artificial media, and as eugonic, those that grow 
readily on the same media. 
The bearings of the results 
summarised :— 
““There can be no doubt that in a certain number 
of cases the tuberculosis occurring in the human 
subject, especially in children, is the direct result of 
the introduction into the human body of the bacillus 
of bovine tuberculosis, and that in the majority of 
these cases the disease is introduced through cow’s 
milk. Our results clearly point to the necessity of 
measures more stringent than those at present 
enforced being taken to prevent the sale or the con- 
sumption of tuberculous milk.’’ The details of the 
various experiments are published in the appendix, 
in which Dr. Eastwood gives a full description of the 
histology of the lesions in the various animals inocu- 
lated, and of the bacteriology of the bacilli isolated 
from them, together with the methods employed. 
This appendix is a volume of 300 pages, illustrated 
with tables and charts, and must rank as a first-rate 
piece of work. Dr. Eastwood concludes that there is 
obtained are thus 
an essential unity, not only in the nature of the 
morbid processes induced by human and_ bovine 
tubercle bacilli, but also in the bacteriological 
characters of the tubercle bacilli which cause these 
processes. 
As regards the minutes of evidence taken before the 
Vivisection Commission,’ the witnesses so far called 
include Mr. W. P. Byrne, C.B., who discussed the 
procedure of the Home Office in the granting of 
licences and in the administration of the present Act; 
Mr. G. D. Thane, Sir J. Russell, and Sir W. Thornley 
Stoker, the official inspectors under the Act; Mrs. K. 
Cook and Dr. Snow,: representing anti-vivisection 
associations; Mr. Stoclkman, chief veterinary officer 
of the Board of Agriculture; and Prof. Starling. 
As already suggested, the work of the Royal Com- 
mission on Tuberculosis, reviewed above, affords one 
of the most striking examples of the necessity for, 
and of the value of, “experiments on animals, and the 
evidence so far given before the Vivisection Com- 
mission has brought out the fact of the scrupulous 
observance of the conditions of their licences by the 
various holders of the same, of the complete absence 
of that cruelty and callousness for which the experi- 
menters have been assailed by those who advocate the 
abolition of vivisection, and of the absolute necessity 
for the experimental method in the medical and bio- 
Icgical sciences if these are to advance. The in- 
spectors seem agreed that there is no need for more 
inspection in order to check abuses. Surprise visits 
can be, and are, paid at any time, and what each 
worker is doing is known to the Home Office. 
= 
ciate the importance of that occasion.’’ In his explanation 
to the House of Commons Mr. Runciman said :—* Neither 
the German, Austro-Hungarian, French, Russian 
Embassies were represented at Pittsburg. It is understood 
that the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were re- 
presented at the celebrations at Pittsburg, and on such an 
occasion the presence of members of the greatest educa- 
tional institutions of the country would appear to be the 
form of representation most suitable and convenient.’’ The 
explanations do not appear to us to be entirely satis- 
factory. That representatives of British universities were 
present at Pittsburg is not a circumstance for which the 
Government can claim any credit. If these guests of Mr. 
Carnegie had been asked to represent the Government on 
the occasion the case would have been different, but no 
official notice was taken of them or of the event. When 
every allowance has been made, the fact remains that the 
German Emperor took advantage of an opportunity to 
show his interest in the advancement of knowledge, and 
that the British Government failed to do so. 
nor 
A MEDALLION in memory of the late Pierre Curie, by 
M. Vernier, has been placed on the wall of his laboratory 
at the Ecole municipale de Physique et de Chemie, Paris. 
On May 6, 8, and 10, Prof. W. Wright will deliver 
three Hunterian lectures of the Royal College of Surgeons 
on ‘The Prehistoric and Early Historic Inhabitants of 
England.” 
Dr. G. O. SmitH has been appointed director of the 
U.S. Geological Survey to fill the vacancy caused by the 
election of Dr. C. D. Walcott to the secretaryship of the 
Smithsonian Institution. 
Own Saturday next, May 4, Prof. W. C. McIntosh will 
begin a course of two lectures at the Royal Institution on 
“‘ Scientific Work in the Sea Fisheries.” The Friday 
evening discourse on will be delivered by Sir 
James Crichton Browne, “Dexterity and the Bend 
Sinister,’’ and on May 10 by Come® Giacomo Boni, 
on ‘‘ Recent Excavations on Romanum, and 
the Forum Ulpium.”’ 
May 3 
on 
Signor 
the Forum 
announced, on Saturday, April 13, of 
Mr. C. L. Griesbach, C.I.E., formerly director of the 
Geological Survey of India. Born in Vienna on December 
11, 1847, he was educated in the university of that city. 
Afterwards coming to England, he was appointed to the 
Geological Survey of India in 1875, made director of it 
in 1894, and retired from the post in 1903. His most 
important geological work was done beyond the frontiers 
of British India, and especially in Afghanistan, which he 
visited first with the Canadian field force in the Afghan 
Tue death is 
NOTES. 
Tue absence of official representatives of the British 
Government at the celebrations connected with the open- 
ing of the Carnegie Institute at Pittsburg formed the sub- 
ject of questions asked in both Houses of Parliament on 
Monday. The replies were to the effect that 
Ambassador to the United States was prevented by other 
engagements from attending the celebrations; and Lord 
Fitzmaurice added:—‘I am exceedingly glad of the 
opportunity publicly to state how much His Majesty’s 
Government, and our Ambassador at Washington, appre- 
our 
1 Royal Comm’ssion on Vivisection. 
oya Appendix to First Report of the 
Commissioners. 
Minutes of Evidence, October to December, 1906. 
NO. 1956, VOL. 75] 
war, again with the Afghan Boundary Commission in 
1884-6, and for a third time as adviser to the Amir in 
1888-9. His descriptions are still the only available 
sources of information regarding the geology of much of 
the country seen by him on these occasions. The popular 
idea, that a desire to avoid military service is the reason 
why foreigners settle in this country, was not borne out 
by Mr. Griesbach, who joined the British Army shortly 
after arrival in England, saw active service in 
Candahar, was mentioned in despatches, earned war 
medals and clasps, and was made a C.I.E. for his services 
with the Afghan Boundary Commission. 
his 
WE regret to learn of the death, on Saturday last, of 
Mr. George E. Davis, the founder and editor of the 
Chemical Trade Journal. Mr. Davis was one of the 
criginal fellows, and subsequently a member of council, of 
