October io, 1901] 



NATURE 



579 



On August 2, Woodward, having just recovered from a 

 surgical operation, journeyed to Moyard, in company with 

 his friend Mr. W. Watson, F.R.S., assistant professor of 

 physics in the Royal College of Science, who had before 

 accompanied him on smiilar occasions. On Sunday, 

 September 15, after spending the day with their friend 

 Mr. AUies, resident land-owner of Inishbofin and other 

 adjacent islands of the Galway seaboard, on the return 

 journey and within sight of land their boat was capsized 

 by a sudden squall. While Watson and the fisherman in 

 charge managed with extreme difficulty to reach the 

 shore, Woodward, though a good swimmer, sank and 

 entirely disappeared, and although every effort was made 

 to recover the body, it was not brought to the surface 

 till September 27. 



He was laid to rest on Sunday, September 29, in the 

 peaceful little Protestant churchyard at Moyard, in the 

 presence of his two sisters, Mr. Watson, Mr. Holt, of the 

 Irish Fisheries Board, and a few of his devoted friends. 

 One reflects with sorrow that circumstances should have 

 combined to remove from the world of action before he 

 was thirty-six a man so universally esteemed. We revere 

 his memory as that of an earnest and original worker, 

 loving and sympathetic, whose self-sacrificing nobility of 

 character, critical capacity, and devotion to the cause of 

 science will long be remembered by the many friends 

 who mourn his loss. G. B. H. 



NOTES. 

 The Harveian Oration of the Royal College of Physicians 

 will be delivered by Dr. Norman Moore on Friday, October 18. 



We regret to have to record the death, at the age of sixty- 

 nine, of M. R. Koenig, of Paris, well-known for his researches 

 in acoustics, light and heat. 



Tke. Journal of Botany records the death, from cholera, in 

 India, on September 14, of a promising y oung botanist, 

 Mr. William West, at the age of twenty-six. Mr. West had 

 passed a distinguished career at the Royal College of Science, 

 where he obtained the Forbes medal for botany, and at 

 •Cambridge, though greatly marred by ill health. He had 

 devoted himself chiefly to the study of freshwater alga:, and 

 had gone to India as biologist to an Indigo Planters' Association. 



The ship Discovery, engaged on the British exploring ex- 

 pedition in the Antarctic regions, arrived at Cape Town on 

 October 3. After coaling the Discovery will proceed to Simons 

 Bay and thence direct to Lyttelton, not calling at Melbourne in 

 order to save time. 



Si'EAKlNG at Upsala to the Swedish Geographical Society on 

 Wednesday of last week. Prof. Nordenskjuld announced that the 

 . Swedish South Polar Expedition would be ready to start soon 

 after the Slh inst. After reaching the Falkland Islands, where 

 a depot will be established, the expedition will continue its 

 voyage southwards. After making their way as far south as 

 possible, the explorers will look for a spot suitable for wintering 

 in. The ship, with three geologists on board, will then return 

 to the Falkland Islands, whence scientific excursions will be 

 conducted throughout the winter. The expedition will probably 

 return to Sweden at the beginning of 1903. 



It is announced in the German semi-official newspapers that 

 the German Government has again placed at the disposal of the 

 Chinese Government the astronomical instruments which were 

 removed from Peking by the German contingent. The Chinese 

 Government has replied that in view of the inconvenience and 

 difficulties which would be involved in conveying the instruments 

 back to China and placing them in their former position it 

 ■ declines the oft'er. 



NO. 1667, VOL. 64] 



The resignation of Dr. Purser, King's Professor of the Insti- 

 tutes of Medicine in the School of Physic, Trinity College, 

 Dublin, is announced. In 1S99, on the completion of the 

 twenty-fifth year of his professorship, Dr. Purser's past pupils, 

 in token of their appreciation of him and his services, founded 

 the "John Mallet Purser Medal " for award yearly in the School 

 of Physic to the candidate who obtains the highest marks in 

 physiology and histology at the Half M. B. examination. Prof. 

 Purser's decision has been arrived at, not on account of ill- 

 health or failing energy, but, as the British Medical Journal 

 understands, in order that with the increased laboratory 

 accommodation which the Board of Trinity College has provided 

 for the teaching of physiology and histology his successor may 

 have the advantage of equipping the laboratory and organising 

 the work on the more extended basis. 



A Reuter telegram, dated October 7, gives further par- 

 ticulars as to the progress of the campaign in Freetown, Sierra 

 Leone, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine against 

 mosquitoes. Up to September 17, 6500 houses had been 

 cleared by Dr. Logan Taylor and his assistants of the receptacles 

 in which the Culex mosquitoes breed, and draining operations 

 against the Anopheles mosquitoes are being pushed forward as 

 much as the rain will allow. In addition to[fifty other men em- 

 ployed on the operations of the expedition, two men are 

 specially employed to look constantly after the centre of the 

 town, where the offices, warehouses, and European houses are. 

 The Governor, Sir Charles King Harman, is giving every assist- 

 ance. Dr. C. W. Daniels, medical superintendent of the 

 London School of Tropical Medicine, who was attached to the 

 expedition and has been studying Dr. Taylor's work at Free- 

 town, has now returned to England. In a report of his obser- 

 vations, addressed to Major Ross, he says: — "In my opinion 

 your efforts have already been crowned with a large degree of 

 success, as there has been a noteworthy diminution in the number 

 of the two first genera of mosquitoes, Anopheles and a kind of 

 Culex, found in the houses. The number o oreeding ground 

 has been enormously diminished." 



At the International Congress of Physiologists recently held 

 at Turin a noteworthy tribute of esteem was paid to Sir Michael 

 Foster on his resigning the presidency to his successor. Prof. 

 Angelo Mosso. This consisted in the presentation of a plaque, 

 of which we reproduce { from the British Medical Journal) the 

 inscription, granting him the unique distinction of Honorary 

 Perpetual President of the Congress. The wording on the 

 plaque is as follows : — 



CONVENTUS PHYSIOLOGORUM INTER- 



NATIONALIS QUINTUS HOC DIE VIRUM 



II.LUSTRISSIMUM SENIORE.M 



MICHAELEM FOSTER 



PRAESIDEM HONORARIUM PERl'ETUU.M CONVENTUUM 

 I'HVSIOLOGICORUM INTERNATIONALIUM CREAVIT 



CONVENTUS NOSTRI GKAVISSIMI VIRI DOCTI AUCTOBITA 



TE E[USUEMQUE STUDIO STRENUO INTEGRE FLORENT 



FOSIERO CATALOGUM SCIENTIARUM NATURALIU.M QUO 



NEMO lAM NATURAE IN'DAGATOR CARERE POTEST 



DEBEMUS GRATIA SIT HONOSQUE PROPUGNATORI 



NOSTRO ! NOMINE CONVENTUUM PHVSIOLOGICORU.M 



IN-TERNATIONALIUM CONVENTUS QUINTI PRAESES 



ANGELUS MOSSO. 



\UGUSTAE TAURI.VORUft 



KAL. OCT. A. 



The Hanbury gold medal for 1901 was presented on the 1st 

 inst. to Dr. George Watt by the president of the Pharmaceutical 

 Society. This medal, w-hich was established as a memorial to 

 Daniel Hanbury, is awarded biennially for high excellence in 

 the prosecution or promotion of original research in the chemistry 

 and natural history of drugs, and the council of the Pharma- 

 ceutical Society are the trustees of the memorial fund. 



