February 6, 19 19] 



NATURE 



449 



A 1 the annual general meeting ol the Royal 

 Anthropological institute, held on January 28, the 

 following were elected as officers and council foi 

 1919 io iil>' names of new members arc in italics): 



dent: Sii Everard i>h Thum. Vice-Presidents: 

 M. Longworth Dames, S. //. Ray, and Dr. \V. II. R. 

 Rivers. Hon. Secretary: I >i . II. S. Harrison. Hon. 

 Treasurer: \< W. Williamson. Council: Capt. !•'. In. 

 Barton, I.- < . 1.. Clarke, Hiss M. E, Durham, Dr. 

 \V. L, II. Duckworth, Sir |. G. Frazer, Capt. 

 .1. W. /-. Fuller, Dr. K J. Gladstone, Dr. \V. I.. 

 Hildburgh, Capt. 1. 1. Joyce, II. G. .1. Leveson, 

 \. I. Lewis, Miss M. A. Murray, E. 1. Parkyn, 

 I'm/ I- . <;. /■„, ■,,,„, W. /'. Pycraft, Capt. C. G. 

 Seligman, Dr. F. <'. Shrubsall, Lt.-Col. I.. .1. 

 WaddeU, S. Hazzledine Warren, ami /'/.>/. W. 

 Wright. 



I'lao, I. ii n > iii ireschi, who died recently after a 

 mm shorl illness, was professor of pharmaceutical 

 chemistry and toxicology in thi University of Turin 



and director of the Institute of Pharmaceutical 

 Chemistry. He was one of the leading Italian 

 chemists, devoting himself chiefly to researches mi tin 

 alkaloids. The most important of his published in- 

 vestigations in this field weie his chemical, physio- 

 logical, .mil medico-legal researches on the ptomaines, 

 but he alsci worked upon the derivatives of quinoline, 



on cocaine, on creatinine, etc. These investigations 

 led ultimate!) to tin- publication bj Prof. Guareschi 

 of a volume summarising our knowledge of the alka- 

 loids. This work was translated from the Italian into 

 several Oilier languages, and gained for the author a 

 world-wide reputation.' During the war he carried out 



investigations mi the toxic gases used in chemical war- 

 fare, and much of his leisure was devoted to the stud) 

 of the histon of emine.it chemists and phvsicists. 



Paris last week was greatlj delighted with M. 

 Guitry's five-acl plaj Pasteur. M. <luitr\ pen acted 

 Pasteur, M. Guitn fils wrote the play; we are thus 

 reminded of that filial affection which was one of the 

 man} inspirations of Pasteur's lit, The plaj begins 

 with the dispersal of Pasteur's students from the Ecole 

 Normall at thl call of the war of 1870-71; it ends 

 with the celebration of his seventieth birthday, when 

 tin representatives of ever) countrj of the civilised 

 world cami to Talis to honour him and thank him. 

 Lovers ol tin- "Vie de Pasteur" and of Godlee's 



"Lister' do eed to bi told about Pasteur. To 



those who saw Pasteur, sat al table with him, heard 

 the slow, grave, quiei voice, watched tin 1 keen eyes 

 and tin tired, sail look id the face, it will he strange in 

 think of him put on the Stage, Resides, tin life of a 

 man of science is not a good theme for a five-act play. 

 Galileo might stand through an act or two, or 

 Vesalius foi tin Hoh Inquisition would make a 

 in'- inn Euclid, \ri-totle, Newton, Gal- 

 v'ani, Faraday, Darwin, are not figures for a theatre. 

 What 5 ce to do with Drama? Bui Pasteur' 



In stands for France. 

 His father had served in the (.rand Army; had re 

 I .it Honour; had taught his children 



to believe in France, in her God, and in het 

 Pasteur was possessed, heart ami soul, bj die loVe ol 

 home and tin love of France. The war of 1N70-71 

 half-killed him. What could he do to help and consoli 

 and glorif) Prance in his life? "Henceforth," he 

 said, "every one of my books shall have it written 

 .11 1. 1- 1 ." I bat was his sbao 



of !,i revanche: to raise Franc, out of the horri 

 defeat, exalt her 1 , set her on her throne. 



b\ the work of his thought. Thai is what he did, 

 what he lived for. "Science," he said, "has in. 

 OOUntr) of her own; but the man 61 SOieftCI OUg 

 NO. 2371. VOL. I02] 



have a countt i his own." Pasteur represents ever- 

 lastingl) the spirit of France, tin genius of France. 

 So it is a good thing, in this wonderful year, that 

 some likeness of linn -I old live and move before the 

 scenes of a Paris tin .1 . ; that some of his words 

 should be spoken by a living voice in the city when 

 his bodv was buried. [I would nol be surprising if 

 the Germans, a few years hence, should want to 

 translate the play and produce it in Berlin as an 

 educational instrument to teach the importance of 

 bacteriology for the advancement oi material 

 prosperity . 



Sir Arthur Newsholmjs has n tin- post 



of Principal Medical Officer to the Local Govern- 

 ment Hoard a year or two before tin timi when his 

 period of office 'would actually have expired under the 

 Civil Servio age limit— probably in anticipation of 

 changes in the Department incidental to its incorpora- 

 tion in the proposed Ministry of Health. During his 

 tenure of office Sir A. Newsholme has been responsible 

 foi special developments of public health work in 

 various directions to which comparatively little atten- 

 tion had bun directed in official quarters. Among 

 these may, perhaps, be regarded as most important the 

 introduction of the notification and treatment of tuber- 

 culosis, a general scheme for the treatment of venereal 

 disease, and one for the advancement of maternitj 

 and child welfare work, in this latter respect continu- 

 ing ami expanding the pioneer work of his predecessoi , 

 Sir William Power. As addenda to his annual reports 

 on the work of the medical department, Sir A. News- 

 holme published a series of reports dealing with 

 the question of infant mortality and the various factors 

 found, as the result of special inquiries by members 

 of the inspectorial staff, to have a bearing on it, 

 especiall) in a number of manufacturing areas, where, 

 although, so far .as was previously known, the condi- 

 tions win somewhat similar, nevertheless the infan- 

 tile death-rate varied within wide limits. Mention 

 should also be made of the " General Review of Pro- 

 gress since 1S71," published as an introduction to the 

 reporl of the Medical Officer for the year 1917-18, in 

 which the saving of life which has occurred in the 

 forty years since tin appointment of Mr. (afterwards 

 Si, 1 fohn Simon as the first Medical Officer of the 

 I.,,, al Government Board is illustrated by a comparison 

 ol ih. death-rate at different ages in 1911-15 and 

 1S71 So respectively. During the wboli period of the 

 war Sir A. Newsholme has acted on the Army Sant- 

 ian Committee, holding the rank of Lieut.-Colonel, 



R.A.M.C. (f.l, and it has been largely due to his 



efforts that military and civilian public health authon- 

 ti, s haw worked togethet so harmoniously on the 



var ',ous special problems which developed as the out- 

 come of war conditions. In acknowledgment of his 

 services to thi State, Sir Arthur Newsholme was 



, n an .1 .,1 B '' "" ' ""' '' k -' ''' in U >'7- 



Tut-: death is announced, in his fifty-first year, of 

 p ro f, Wallace Clement Sabine, who had been pi >- 

 fessoi of mathematics and natural philosophy al 

 Harvard since (005, and was formerly dean - 



ii -.book Two years ago Prof. 

 Harvard exchange profess,,, at tin 1 ii- 

 oi Tails. He was the author of a treatis 00 

 Vrchitectural Vi oustics.'" 



Jsis. an international quarterly devoted to the 

 histor\ and philosophy of science', need pub- 



lication in Belgium in" 1-913 \ con pl< olume had 



appe.11. d, together with two or three fascicules ol 



the second Volume, when the publics was brutally 



interrupted l>v the German invasion. \1. S.uton, its 

 I editor, was hospitabK received in the United si. ii.s. 



