NATURE 
NOVEMBER 26, 1896 
a) 
Various kinds of bullets were 
photographs, 
direction to the bullet. | 
used for these some of aluminium, in 
Fic. 1.—Photograph of a bullet in motion. 
order to obtain a greater velocity, which varied from 
750 to 3000 feet per second; the former being the 
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hic. 2.—Arrangement for the photography of a bullet in motion. 
average velocity of a pistol shot, the latter of a magazine 
rifle. 
| chloroform ; 
and physiological research. In 1856 he obtained the 
Astley Cooper Triennial prize of £300 for the best essay 
on the coagulation of the blood, and from that time 
forward his life was one of incessant professional and 
literary activity. He devoted much time to the investi- 
gation of the action of anzesthetics, and to an endeavour 
to discover some agent which should be superior to 
but, of the many compounds with which he 
experimented, only one, the bichloride of methylene, has 
in any way held its ground, and that only in the hands 
of a few administrators. This inquiry led him to the 
discovery in connection with which his name is best 
known, viz. the application of ether spray for the local 
abolition of pain in surgical operations. Among the 
| many other subjects w hich he advanced by experimental 
study are: the restoration of life after various forms of 
apparent death ; methods of killing animals without the 
infliction of pain ; effects of electricity upon animal life ; 
and alcohol in relation to its action on man. He also 
introduced into medical and surgical practice many 
valuable preparations, among others the ethylate of 
sodium ; and his investigations largely contributed to 
| the attainment of a w orking know ledge of the properties 
| and uses of nitrate of amyl. 
In 1864, “in recognition of 
his various contributions to science and medicine,” he 
was presented, by six hundred members of his profession, 
with a testimonial consisting of a microscope by Ross 
and one thousand guineas. 
Sir Benjamin Richardson’s contributions to magazines, 
journals and transactions are innumerable. He originated 
and for a time edited the Journal of Public Health, after- 
wards called the Social Science Review, and for the last 
twelve years he has maintained a quarterly medical 
journal, the Asclepiad, of about 150 pages, every line of 
which has been of his own composition. On the very 
day of his fatal seizure he had completed the revision of 
the proofs of a new book entitled ‘‘ Memories and Ideals.” 
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1867, . 
and was the Croonian lecturer in 1873. He received the 
honour of knighthood in 1893, and, among other dis- 
tinctions, was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, of 
the Royal College of Physicians of London, and of the 
Faculty of Phy: sicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He 
was M.A., M. D., and LL.D. of St. Andrews ; Fother- 
gillian gold medallist ; and past President of the Medical 
Society of London. 
Thus for more than forty years Sir Benjamin Richard- 
son devoted his energies to the solution of the question, 
“How shall pain, disease—nay, death itself as an enemy 
—be swept from the earth, as vanquished enemies of 
every race?” By his efforts to relieve pain and remove 
the pangs of death, and for the attention which he gave 
to other questions connected with his noble profession, 
he claims the gratitude of humanity. 
Sir Benjamin Richardson leaves a widow and two sons 
and a daughter. 
Sik B. W. RICHARDSON, F.R.S. 
Gi BENJAMIN WARD RICHARDSON, whose 
death we regretfully announce, will be remembered 
more widely on account of his many lucid contributions 
to popular medical literature, and as an attractive lecturer 
on scientific subjects, than for his additions to medical 
knowledge. His great and versatile talents do not, how- 
ever, diminish his claims to distinction as a physician of 
much originality of mind and a careful investigator ; and 
these are the qualities which has earned for him the 
high esteem of men of science. 
Sir Benjamin Richardson was born at Somerby, in 
the county of Leicester, in 1828, and graduated in 
medicine at the University of St. Andrews in 1854. 
After a short experience as general practitioner, he 
removed to London in order to devote himself to medical 
WAS eaVOLES (5 
NO 
NO 
NOTES. 
in memory Father Secchi, the former 
Collegio Romano Observatory, has been erected 
at Reggio (Emilia), where he was born. The sum of 78,000 
francs was publicly subscribed for this purpose. 
A MONUMENT of 
Director of the 
THE British Medical Fournal states that the long-standing 
question of providing a statue to Darwin in his native town 
(Shrewsbury) has been settled by the Shropshire Horticultural 
Society undertaking to defray the entire cost, estimated at from 
£1000 to £1200. 
THE announced of Dr. F. Saccardo, professor of 
natural sciences at the school of viticulture at Avellino, a 
recognised authority on the diseases of the vine, and a writer on 
lichenology. 
death is 
