December ig. 1918] 



NATURE 



311 



fought a clean war of self-defence." We note thai th< 

 Brussels correspondent of the Times reports on Decem- 

 ber 10 that the Belgian Surgical Society, at its first 

 meeting since July, [914, solemnly repudiated the 

 notorious manifesto, and resolved to break off all 

 relations with German men of science until the 

 calumnies, especialrj against Belgian medical men, are 

 publicly disavowed. 



W'k learn with regret of the death on December 9 

 of Dr. Reginald Perq Cockin, a member of the 

 staff of the London School of Tropical Medicine. Dr. 

 Cockin was educated al Caius College, Cambridge, 

 and the London Hospital. After graduating in arts 

 and medicine in [906 he entered the Colonial Medical 

 Service, passing "with distinction" in the qualifying 

 course al the London School of Tropical Medicine. In 



lie proceeded to Wesl \frica, and saw active ser- 

 vice as medical officer with the Cross River Expedi- 

 tion into the Munchi country. In 1910 he transferred 

 to Cyprus as district medical officer, and hi -Id the post 

 of examiner under pharmaceutical law. During 1913 



1 1 Cockin was bacteriologist and resident surgeon al 

 the Colony and Yaws Hospitals in Grenada. He then 

 returned ;,. the London School of 'Tropical Medicine, 

 occupying successively the posts of demonstrator, 

 assistant in the helminthological department, and 

 ant entomologist. In 1916 he inaugurated one 

 of the venereal clinics under the Seamen's Hospital 

 Society, and as it> director and pathologist organised 

 the clinical the Albert Dock Hospital with brilliant suc- 



Dr. Cockin 's contributions to medical literature 

 were chiefly clinical, dealing with yaws and its treat- 

 ment, rat-bite fever, and ankylostomiasis. His M.D. 

 thesis on "Ankylostomiasis in Grenada" was of 

 special importance in definitely associating with this 

 infection a series of hitherto obscure cardiac symp- 

 toms. Dr. Leipei writes : " In him we have lost one 

 of peculiarly charming personality, wide sympathies 

 and interests. Knowing as he did tin- risk of over- 

 strain, which actually proved fatal, ho courageously 

 discharged until within a day of his death, not only 

 his own duties, bul also those of others, away on 



service." 

 \ Christmas course of juvenile lectures will be 

 delivered at the Royal Institution bv Prof. D'.\rc\ 

 Thompson on "The Fish of tin Sea," beginning on 

 December 31 at ; o'clock. The following courses of 

 lectures w ill he given before Easter : Prof. Spenser 

 Wilkinson, Lessons of the War; Prof. MacGregor- 

 Morris, Stud) ol Electric Arcs and their Applications; 

 ('apt. (i. P. Thomson, The Development of Aero- 

 planes in the Great War and The Dynamics of 

 Flying; Prof. I lele-Shaw, Clutches; Prof. Arthur 

 Keith, British Ethnologj : The People of Scotland; 

 Prof. Norman Collie, Chemical Studies of Oriental 

 lain; Dr. W. Wilson, The Movements of the 

 Sun, Earth, and Moon; Prof. II. M. Lefroy, Insect 

 Enemies of our F'ood Supplies and How Silk is Grown 

 and Made; Prof. C. H. Lees, F'ire Cracks and the 

 Forces Producing Them; Prof. A. Findlay, Colloidal 

 Matter and its Properties; and Sir J. J. Thomson, 



mil \n.d\sis and its Application to Atomic 

 Structure. The Friday discourses will begin on 

 January 17, when Sir James Dewat will give a lecture 

 on Liquid Air and the War; and discourses will also 

 be delivered bv the following gentlemen ; Lt.-Col. A. 

 Balfour, Prof. H. II. Turner, Prof. I. G. Adami, Prof. 



Knott, Mr. A. T. I Ian. Prof. L \. McClelland, 

 Prof. II t II. Carpenter, Prof. A. Keith, Prof. 

 W. W. Watts, Sir John II. \. Macdonald, and Sir 

 J. J. Thomson. 



Influenza is ven decidedh on the wane in England 

 and V urn for the 



NO. 251)4. VOL. I02] 



week ending Decembei 7 shows that for the ninety- 

 six gnat towns the deaths horn the epidemic were 

 ,i 5 7 4 . which is less than one-half of the deaths in either 

 ol the two weeks ending November 9, when the com- 

 plaint was at its climax. In the eight weeks ending 

 December 7 there were 41,053 deaths from influenza 

 in the ninety-six great towns. The Times of Decem- 

 ber 7 gave the following from its New York corre- 

 spondent : "Deaths among tin- civilian population of 

 the United Stales from Spanish inlluenza and pneu- 

 monia since September 15 have totalled approximately 

 350,000. In military camps the number of deaths has 

 exceeded 20,000." In London the deaths from influenza 

 for the week ending December 7 were 660, which is 

 lower than am week since that ending October 19, 

 and is little more than one-quarter of the deaths in 

 either of the two weeks ending November 9. The 

 age incidence of the deaths is higher than in am 

 previous week of the epidemic, 42 per cent, ol tin 

 deaths occurring at ages above forty-five. 'The pro- 

 portion of deaths in London from pneumonia has been 

 smaller than the deaths from bronchitis throughout the 

 epidemic until the week ending December 7, when the 

 deaths from bronchitis were slightly the greater. 



THE death is announced, at thirty-five years of age, 

 of Dr. A. I-:. Stansfeld. From the British Medical 

 Journal we learn that Dr. Stansfeld entered St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, with a major scholarship in 1902, 

 and -ained Firsl (lass honours in both parts ol the 

 Natural Sciences Tripos, graduating B.C. in 1909, and 

 proceeding to the M.D.. degree in 1915. At St. 

 Bartholomew's Hospital his career was exceptionally 

 brilliant. He won there an entrance scholarship, the 

 Kirkes scholarship and gold medal, the Burrows prize, 

 the Brackenbury medical scholarship, and the Law- 

 rence scholarship and gold medal. After holding the 

 post of house physician he was appointed casualty 

 physician and assistant demonstrator of pathology in 

 the medical school ; and at the date of his deatli on 

 November 25 he was senior demonstrator of pathology 

 at St. Bartholomew's, and physician to the Metro- 

 politan Hospital. In 191 1 Dr. Stansfeld obtained the 

 membership of the Royal College of Physicians, and 

 he was elected to the fellowship this year. 



Tut': King has been pleased to approve the appoint- 

 ment of the Rev. I-:. W. Barnes, F.R.S., Master of 

 the Temple, to the Canonry of Westminster, vacant 

 owing to the death of the Right Rev. William Boyd 

 Carpenter, II. D., K.C.Y.O. Dr. Barnes went to 

 Cambridge from King Edward's School, Birmingham, 

 as a scholar of Trinity, and graduated in 1896, being 

 bracketed as Second Wrangler. In the following yeai 

 he was placed in the first division of the F"irst Class 

 in the Mathematical Tripos, part ii., and became first 

 Smith's prizeman in 1898. He was president of the 

 Union in 1897, and in 1898 was elected a fellow of 

 his college, afterwards becoming assistant lecturer 

 (1902), junior dean (1906-8), and tutor (1908-15). He 

 was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1909. 



We notice with regrel tin death on December 9, at 

 Basle, of Mr. F. G. Aflalo, at forty-eight years of 

 age. Mr. Aflalo was well known as a traveller, an 

 angler, and author of numerous popular writings on 

 natural history, especially that of fishes. He travelled 

 widely, among other places visiting every fishing port 

 of note, lie was the editor of the "Encyclopaedia of 

 and the -Anglers' Library." In 1893 Mr. 

 Aflalo founded the British Sea Anglers' Society, which 

 is now a flourishing association. 



Mi;. CLIFFORD C. Patkrson is resigning his position 

 in the physics department of the National Physical 

 Laboratory, Teddington, and is joining the- General 



