292 
NATURE 
[OcTOBER 30, 1913 
the subject, owing to the progress made on the Con- 
tinent in enforcing the adoption of the metric carat. 
The new standards are intended to displace the old 
English carat weight, which has never had legal 
sanction, but has long been in use in this country, 
and is recognised by the trade as defined by the rela- 
tion 1513 carats=1 oz. troy, so that it is equivalent 
to 3:1683 grains, or to 205-3 milligrams nearly. 
By the death of Mr. William Hunting, on October 
24, the veterinary profession has lost one of its most 
brilliant members, and the public in general one of 
its most strenuous workers in the cause of public 
health, especially in relation to the prevention of 
diseases transmissible from animals to man. Mr. 
William Hunting was born in 1844, receiving his early 
education at the Edinburgh Academy, and his profes- 
sional training at the New Veterinary College, Edin- 
burgh. He obtained his diploma of membership of the 
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1865, and 
became a fellow in 1877. His former teacher, Prof. 
Gamgee, established a veterinary college in London, 
and selected him to teach anatomy and physiology, 
and after a while Mr. Hunting was appointed 
professor of veterinary science at.. the Royal 
Agricultural College, Cirencester. He did not retain 
this chair for.long, and eventually he settled in general 
practice.in London, where he was brought into daily 
contact with glanders in horses, a disease with which 
his name will always be associated. He was later 
elected to the council of the, Royal College of 
Veterinary Surgeons, and became its president, the 
highest honour his profession could bestow on him, in 
1894-5. Mr. Hunting was acknowledged to be the 
greatest authority on clinical glanders, and it was 
mainly owing to his efforts that the London County 
Council instituted its campaign against this disease 
which was so easily communicable to man, and almost 
invariably fatal. For this purpose the L.C.C. ap- 
pointed him as its chief inspector, from which 
post he retired under the age limit. He lived, how- 
ever, to see the disease got well under control with 
every prospect, of its being completely eradicated in 
a comparatively few years. He published an illus- 
trated monograph on glanders in the horse and in 
man, the best work in existence on the disease, and 
he has also contributed the chapter on this affection in 
Hoare’s ‘‘System of Veterinary Medicine.” He had 
only recently been invited to provide a paper on the 
same subject for the International Veterinary Con- 
gress, which will meet in London in i914. He 
founded and edited The Veterinary Record, and 
published a standard worl on horse-shoeing, and 
was also a prolific writer to the veterinary Press. 
Amongst the many offices he held at the time of his 
death, Mr. Hunting was president of the National 
Veterinary Association, examiner for the membership 
and fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary 
Surgeons, examiner for the membership of the Royal 
Agricultural College, and for the meat inspector’s 
certificate of the Royal Sanitary Institute. He was 
also a member of the board of studies in veterinary 
science in the University of London, and a governor 
of the Royal Veterinary College. 
2296, VOL. 92] 
Dr. F. H. Hatcu tee been elected president of the 
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy for the forth- 
coming year. rma 
Mr. STEPHEN REYNOLDS, a member of the pede 
mental Committee inquiring into the condition of the 
inshore fisheries, has been appointed adviser on these 
fisheries to the Development Commission. 
Dr. H. R. Mitt, director of the British Rainfall 
Organisation, has been compelled to take a complete — 
rest for a time on account of his eyes, which have 
been affected by the continual strain of his work. 
He will leave next month for a voyage to New 
Zealand, and is advised not to attempt to take up for 
at least a year any work which involves close atten- 
tion. It is hoped that the rest and change will have 
a decidedly beneficial effect upon Dr. Mill’s eyesight 
and general health. 
THE young Malay elephant at the Zoological Gar- 
dens, which had been ailing for some time, died in 
the latter part of last week. The skin has been con- 
signed to Messrs. Rowland Ward, Ltd., by whom it 
will be mounted for the Natural History Museum. 
At the time of its death the animal, although about 
three years old, still retained the hairy coat of new- 
born Asiatic elephant calves. 
In The Field of October 25 Mr. R. I. Pocock records 
the acquisition by the Zoological Society. of the second 
known example of the South American short-eared 
dog, or fox (Canis sclateri). The first specimen was 
acquired by the society in 1882, and described by Dr. 
Sclater under the preoccupied name of C. microtis. 
In neither case is the precise habitat known, but Mr. 
Pocock, who also refers to the peculiarity of the asso- 
ciation of short ears with small bodily size, considers 
that the species is probably a forest animal. 
An exhibition of ‘‘ Nature Photographs,’’ organised 
by the Nature Photographic Society, is now being 
held at the house of the Royal Photographic Society, 
35 Russell Square. It consists of 132 photographs of 
birds, animals, flowers, fungi, insects, &c., generally 
of a high order of merit, and many of them by 
workers who have earned a considerable reputation for 
work of this kind. Admission to the exhibition is by 
presentation of visiting card, between 11 and 5, until 
November 15. The photographs shown are just of 
the kind that must appeal to those interested in 
nature-study. 
THE annual dinner of the London School of Tropical 
Medicine was held at Prince’s Restaurant on October 
24, Dr. F. M. Sandwith presiding, and among those 
present were Lord Milner, Mr. Percival Nairne, Sir 
Charles Lukis, Sir J. West Ridgeway, Sir John Ander- 
son, Surgeon-General May, Sir Patrick Manson, and 
many others. Mr. Austin Chamberlain, proposing the 
toast of the school, referred to the progress which 
tropical medicine has made during the last twenty- 
five years, and said that it is a matter of national 
pride that in so beneficent a movement our country- 
men stand in the forefront in regard to the new 
learning which is being acquired. The London School 
has appealed for a sum of 100,000l. for endowment, 
