134 
NATURE 
[ DECEMBER 10, 1903 
Tne Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, F.R.S., has been elected 
zoological secretary, and a member of the council, of the 
Linnean Society in succession to Prof. G. B. Howes, 
F.R.S., who has had to retire on account of ill-health. 
Pror. W. D. Hatiisurton, F.R.S., has been selected to 
give the Herter lectures in connection with the University 
of New York in the coming year, and he has chosen as his 
subject the biochemistry of muscle and nerve. The lectures 
will commence on January 4, 1904. 
A SERVICE in memory of the late Sir Frederick Bramwell, 
Bart., F.R.S., was held at St. Margaret’s Church, West- 
minster, on Friday last, December 4. The service was 
attended by a large congregation, which included repre- 
sentatives of the Royal Society, British Association, Insti- 
tution of Civil Engineers, and many other scientific and 
technical bodies. 
A DatzirL message states that, having successfully ex- 
changed messages regularly between Berlin and Munich, a 
distance of about 500 miles, the German Wireless Telegraphy 
Company is about to endeavour to establish communication 
between Berlin and the Swedish coast near Stockholm, a 
distance of more than 650 miles. The company uses a 
combination of the Slaby-Arco and Siemens systems. 
Mr. F. F. Francis, Queen’s Road, Wimbledon, writes to 
record an instance of a snake being killed by a mouse. An 
ordinary grass snake which he had in confinement was 
given a mouse for food. The snake made several attempts 
to catch the mouse, but in every case missed. The next 
day the snake was found to be dead, and there was evidence 
that it had been attacked and killed by the mouse, which 
was alive and had eaten a part of the snake’s body. 
AN open competitive examination for not fewer than 
twenty-four situations as assistant examiner in the Patent 
Office will be held by the Civil Service Commissioners in 
January next. The examination will commence on January 
5, and forms of application for admission to it will probably 
be ready for issue in the course of a few days; they will 
be obtainable on request addressed by letter to t 
tary, Civil Servi Cc as 
ivi ervice ommission, Burlington Gard 
London, W. : ee 
Tue Aberdeen Line steamer Sophocles arrived at 
Plymouth on December 3 from Sydney after experiencing 
exceptional weather in the Bay of Biscay. It is reported that 
during a severe thunderstorm the ship was struck by light- 
ning, and the mainmast was scorched and blackened. A 
few minutes later, it is said, a brilliant meteor burst in the 
vicinity of the liner. ‘‘ The attention of the passengers was 
attracted by a rushing sound, and immediately afterwards 
they saw an object plunge into the sea, apparently a few 
yards distant, on the starboard side of the liner, throwing 
up the water with a great splash.”’ 
PROF: LL. GC? MIALL, F.R.S., has been elected Fullerian 
professor of physiology at the Royal Institution. The 
following are among the lecture arrangements at the Insti- 
tution before Easter:—A Christmas course of lectures 
(adapted to a juvenile auditory) on extinct animals, by Prof. 
Ray Lankester; Prof. L. C. Miall, six lectures on 
the development and transformations of animals; Dr. E. A. 
Wallis Budge, two lectures on the doctrine of heaven and 
hell in ancient Egypt, and the books of the underworld ; Mr. 
G R. M. Murray, three lectures on the flora of the ocean ; 
Mr. A. D. Hall, three lectures on recent research in agri- 
culture; Prof. H. L. Callendar, three lectures on electrical 
methods of measuring temperature; and six lectures by 
NO. 1780, VOL. 69] 
Lord Rayleigh on the life and works of Stokes. The Friday 
evening meetings will begin on January 15, when a dis- 
course will be delivered by Lord Rayleigh on shadows; 
succeeding discourses will probably be given by the Rev. 
Walter Sidgreaves, Mr. D. G. Hogarth, Mr. H. Brereton 
Baker, Mr. Alexander Siemens, Prof. W. Stirling, Prof. 
F. T. Trouton, Prof. Dewar, and other gentlemen. 
Mr. W. T. Gipson has been appointed curator of the 
station of the Marine Biological Association of the West 
of Scotland, and Mr. J. M‘Kenzie has been appointed 
assistant curator. Mr. Gibson is an associate of the Royal 
College of Science in London, and received his scientific 
education there, and also at the University of Edinburgh. 
He has done marine field work at the Gatty Laboratory, 
St Andrews, and also at the laboratory of the Northumber- 
land Sea Fisheries Committee at Cullercoats. Mr. M‘ Kenzie 
has for the last eight years been laboratory assistant in 
the zoology and geology departments of Marischal College, 
Aberdeen. 
Tue International Sanitary Conference, which has beer 
sitting in Paris since October 10, has just closed its pro- 
ceedings. A modification has been introduced in the period 
of surveillance in cases of contact with plague; this is re- 
duced from ten to five days. The new convention provides 
for the manner in which outbreaks of cholera or plague are 
to be intimated, and, generally speaking, provides for 
greater facilities for international commerce, while giving 
additional guarantees for public health. It is proposed that 
an international sanitary office shall be established in Paris. 
In a lecture upon intra-cellular bacterial toxins, delivered 
at the Lister Institute by Dr. Allan Macfadyen, the method 
of mechanically grinding bacteria with the aid of liquid air 
was demonstrated. The lecturer pointed out that there 
were two classes of bacteria, one, of which diphtheria and 
tetanus were examples, excreting, as it were, soluble poisons 
or toxins into the culture medium, the other producing no 
extra-cellular poisons, and in which the toxins seen to be 
associated with the bacterial cells, as is the case with 
tubercle, typhoid, cholera, plague, and a number of others. | 
By disintegrating the cells of the last-named class, the intra- “ 
cellular toxins are set free, and on injection into animals * 
produce toxic effects. By cautious injection with these 
intra-cellular toxins, the blood of the treated animal acquires 
antitoxic properties, and it is hoped that it may be possible 
by this means to obtain antitoxic sera for such diseases as ° 
typhoid fever and plague, similar to those now employed 
for diphtheria and tetanus. 
Sir Parrick Manson, F.R.S., delivered an address on 
Monday afternoon at the London School of Tropical 
Medicine on the work of the school, the occasion being 
the departure of Sir Francis Lovell, the dean, for the East 
on behalf of the school. Sir Patrick Manson, having traced 
the history of the foundation of the school, paid a tribute 
to the late Colonial Secretary, who has done so much to 
forward the study of tropical medicine. With regard to 
the worl: of the school, it naturally came under two head- 
ings—education and research. Since the school was opened 
in October, 1899, no less than 354 students had passed 
through its portals. Research had been prosecuted so far 
as the limited means at their disposal had permitted. Dr. 
Low had shown that the filaria was introduced into the 
body by a mosquito, Drs. Low and Sambon had carried out 
an important experiment to prove the mosquito-malaria 
theory, Dr. Forde, a pupil of the school, had discovered a 
trypanosome in man, and Dr. Castellani had observed @ 
trypanosome in sleeping sickness. Through the generosity 
