I'ARY 20, 19 19] 



NATURE 



489 



affected; doubtless the travelling birds would be 

 flying too high above the tumuli o) th< battle- 

 fields to notice it and, even if the) encoui 

 a "barrage," the) could always "rise to the 



- inn as common 

 as they did towards the end of the war, birds were 

 considerably excited by them, ('.nils and wild- 

 fowl flee before them in p 



stricken rout, but on one occasion a flock of 



gulls is reported to have flown inquisitivel) 



iplane. Incidentally, it ma) be noted that 

 some interesting observations wen- made by our 

 aviators as regards the heighl al which birds fly 

 when on migration. 



Perhaps the greatest effect of the war on bird- 

 life in general will prove to be the iai I ol forests 

 and woods. I lie abnormal felling of timber which 

 has been carried out during the war must have an 

 effect "ii arboreal birds for man) years to come. 

 ! i eat spoiled Woodpecker in 



new areas in Scotland 1 announced, 



and is attributed to the fact that former haunts 

 have disappeared under the axe. Owing to the 

 out gamekeepers an undeniable in- 

 in "vermin " is widely reported. Jays 

 seem to have been particularl) numerous and wide- 

 id lately, and buzzards have been seen in 

 many an unaccustomed place. Bui the benefits 

 accruing from the hick of gamekeepers are not 

 likely to ed for long. 



Enough has been written to shew that the 

 subject of "Birds and the War' is one which de- 

 mands mure than a ■short article. I have compiled 

 a book, now in the printers' hands, which deals 



(I think as fully as is at present possible) with 



the whole subject. Though I do no1 claim thai 

 my book attains finality, I trust that it may prove 

 of some use to ornithologists, and also be of 

 general interest ; in any case, I offer i) as a tribute 

 to our friends the birds. 



Hugh S. Gladstone. 



PROF. G. 1 [RE] FOSTER, F.R.S. 



PROF. GEORGE CAREY FOSTER, whose 

 death, on Sunday, February 9, at the age of 

 -three, we announced last week, was born 

 at Sabden, in Lancashire. He received his educa- 

 tion at Universit) College, London, after which 

 he proceeded to the Universities of Ghent, Ileidel- 

 and Pai is. ( ai e) Foster had held many 

 official positions. He was appointed professoi ol 

 experimental physics al University College al the 

 age of thirty, his chaii ultimately becoming the 



■ hair, under the endowment of Sir Richard 



Quain. F01 four years, from 1900, he held the 

 ■ .I principal ol the college. He was a fellow 

 of the Royal Society, and one of its vice-presi- 

 dents during the periods 1891—93 and 1902 3. He 

 lied the presidential chair of the Society of 

 Telegi iphii Engineers (now the Institution of Elec- 

 trical I, and aKo ot the Physical Society 

 of London. He was a fellow both of the University 

 of London and of Universit) College, and an 

 XO. 2573, VOL. I02] 



honorary membet ol thi [ewish Historical Society 

 1 the Amei ii .., I 'hili isi >phical S< 11 iet) . 



In the last ' 

 luster gradually to relinquish his official positions 

 and to retire mm 1 into his country home. 



To the younger generation he is therefore known 

 only by name, yet he played a leading part in at 

 least three important m ements connected with 

 ■ ; M)ii in London. 



First, in the eighties of lasl century, efforts bi 

 to iii made to bring about an achievement of the 

 aims of the original promoters ol the founda- 

 ; r as a uni\ ersit) . Care; I oster 

 (in his owai words) looked upon the college not 

 only as an important place oi education, but also 

 as an important expression of a mosl remarkable 

 in ellectual movement "a movement which stood 



lor free inquirv and effort towards improvement, 



intellectual and social." Education, untrammelled 

 by extraneous considerations, could not be ob- 

 tained in the days when his college was founded. 

 Owing- to the vicissitudes which the scheme met 

 with, the teaching and examining functions of the 

 institution had become distinct, the former being 

 vested in the college, while the hitter were carried 

 on by the University as a separate body. Carey 

 Foster threw himself, heart and soul, into, if he 

 did not actually lead, the movement for there-estab- 

 lishment of a teaching University in London, so 

 that its teachers might have freedom in their teach- 

 ing, untrammelled by the examinations of a distinct 

 institution. This movement led to the establish- 

 ment of the present University, which, however, 

 only partly realised the wishes of its first pro- 

 moters. In order still further to realise these 

 aims, the college ultimately (January 1, 1907) 

 allowed itself to be swallowed up in the University 

 in order that it might, if possible, work the neces- 

 sary reforms from inside. Carey Foster identified 

 himself with the movement from first to last. 



Next, still further to carry out the idea of 

 emancipation, he was a heart) supporter of the 

 projects for the admission of women to university 

 teaching and privileges. Such a change was in- 

 evitable. It was regarded, in some quarters, as 

 a hazardous step. Its extension within the college 

 and to other colleges and universities in England 

 and abroad is a justification of the pioneer work 

 ol the college. 



The third movement was concerned directly with 

 the teaching of the subjei I of which Carey Foster 

 was professor. He laid the foundation of the 

 physical laboratory as it exists to-day. When he 

 himself was educated, laboratory work, as we 

 now know it, did not form pari of any curriculum. 

 But, about 1866, in two rooms in his college, he 

 . reated the first physical laboratory, in which 

 students might repeat the Standard methods ol 

 measurement which were then being rapidly 

 developed especiall) on the Continent and be 

 taught the conditions for success in such measure- 

 ments. Cabinets of physical apparatus had existed 

 before, but these were intended foi the illustration 

 of lectures. The spirit of change was in the air, 



