54° 



NA TURE 



[April 5, 1906 



PROF. LIONEL SMITH BEALE, F.R.S. 

 DROF. LIONEL SMITH BEALE, F.R.S. . whose 

 -*■ death occurred on March 28 at the age of 

 seventy-eight years, was the son of Mr. Lionel John 

 Beale, and was educated at King's College School 

 and King's College, London. A year after taking 

 his degree in medicine he established a private labor- 

 atory in Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn, for pathological, 

 microscopical, and chemical research and teaching; 

 and in 1853, at the early age of twenty-five, was 

 appointed professor of physiology and general and 

 morbid anatomy at King's College. He afterwards 

 held the chair of pathology, and finally that of the 

 principles and practice of medicine at King's College, 

 resigning the latter in 1896. For forty years Prof. 

 Beale was physician to King's College Hospital, and 

 among other honours and appointments received by 

 him during his active career may be mentioned the 

 Baly medal in 1871 for researches in physiology; 

 Croonian lecturer to the Royal Society, 1865 ; 

 Lumleian lecturer, Royal College of Physicians, 

 London, 1875; president of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society. 1879; and Government medical referee for 

 England, 1891-1904. 



As a teacher, Prof. Beale was remarkable for his 

 lucidity; and his lectures were admirably delivered, 

 riveting the attention of his hearers. He had the 

 esteem of all his pupils ; and those who had the 

 privilege of a closer intimacy with him feel that they 

 have indeed sustained a great loss by his death. 



His principal work, that which gained him the 

 Fellowship of the Royal Society, was on the minute 

 structure of the tissues; " Beale 's carmine stain" 

 and his injection mixtures are well known to all 

 microscop*ists. 



Prof. Beale was the author of many works, among; 

 the best known being the "Archives of Medicine," 

 containing researches carried out in the laboratory at 

 Carey Streel ; " How to Work with the Microscope "; 

 "The Microscope in Medicine"; "Protoplasm, 

 Physical Life and Law "; " The Liver "; and " Slight 

 Ailments and their Treatment," besides manv papers 

 in the Philosophical Transactions and other publi- 

 cations of learned societies. R. T. H. 



NOTES. 

 The fourteenth " James Forrest " lecture of the Institu- 

 tion of Civil Engineers will be delivered by Mr. K. A. 

 Hadfield on Wednesday, May 2, the subject being " Un- 

 solved Problems in Metallurgy." 



The Government of India has decided, with the approval 

 of the Secretary of State, to establish an institute in India 

 as a centre for practical instruction of medical officers and 

 subordinates in the use and management of Rontgen ray 

 apparatus, and as a dep6t for the storage and repair of 

 such apparatus. The institute will be located at Dehra 

 Dun, and will be under the superintendence ,,f an officer 

 of the Indian Medical Service. 



Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S.. has been made an Officier 

 de l'Instruction publique of France lor his services in 

 connection with the foundation of the Alliance Franco- 

 Britannique, of which association he is the honorary 

 secretary. 



A Reuter message stales that, after perceptible shocks 

 of earthquake, a crevice, out of which lava flowed, opened 

 on the side of Mount Vesuvius, on March 28, some hundred 

 yards from the upper station of the Funicular Railway. 

 The eruption from the principal crater also continues. 

 NO. 1901, VOL. 73J 



At the Meteorological Office Mr. R. G. K. Lempfert 

 has been appointed superintendent of the statistical branch, 

 Mr. F-rnest Gold has been selected for appointment as 

 superintendent of the instruments branch, and Mr. J. A. 

 Curtis succeeds Mr. J. S. Harding as cashier and chief 

 clerk. 



The Easter excursion of the Geologists' Association will 

 this year be to Lyme Regis. The party will leave London 

 on Thursday, April 12, and return to town on Tuesday, 

 April 17. A detailed itinerary and time-table has been 

 published by the association. The excursion will be 

 directed by Dr. H. B. Woodward, F.R.S., and Mr. G. W. 

 Young, the excursion secretary. 



The death is announced of Mr. Carl Heinrich von 

 Siemens. Born in 1820 at Menzendorf, in Mecklenburg, 

 he was the sixth son of a family of fourteen. For the 

 greater part of his life lie cooperated with his brothers 

 Werner, William, and Friedrich in the development of 

 the various undertakings with which the name of Siemens 

 1- associated. A detailed notice of his career is published 

 in the Engineer of March 30. 



According to a Laffan telegram from Neyv York, dated 

 March 31, the De Forest Wireless Telegraphy Company 

 has been sending experimental messages from its station 

 at Coney Island to Ireland every night for some time, and 

 on March 28 a thousand words were transmitted, of which 

 572 were received and recorded. The longest distance that 

 had previously been covered by this company's service yvas 

 from Coney Island to Colon, 2100 miles; the new record 

 is 3200 miles. The sending stations in Ireland are not 

 yet completed, so that a telrahedral kite is used tempor- 

 arily for receiving work. 



The following are among the lecture arrangements at 

 the Royal Institution after Easter : — Prof. W. Stirling, 

 three lectures on glands and their products; Dr. P. 

 Chalmers Mitchell, two lectures on the digestive tract in 

 birds and mammals; the Rev. J. P. Mahaffy, two lectures 

 on (1) the expansion of old Greek literature by recent dis- 

 coveries, (2) the influence of ptolemaic Egypt on Graeco- 

 Roma'n civilisation; Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., three 

 lei lores on man and the Glacial period; and Sir J. Dewar, 

 F.R.S., two lectures on the old and the new chemistry. 

 The Friday evening meetings will be resumed on April 27, 

 when Prof. J. W. Gregory, F.R.S., will deliver a discourse 

 on ore deposits and their distribution in depth. Succeeding 

 discourses will probably be given by the Hon. C. A. 

 Parsons, F.R.S., Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S., Prof. A. 

 Schuster, F.R.S., Mr. L. Hill, F.R.S., Prof. H. Moissan, 

 F.R.S., Sir James Dewar, F.R.S., and others. 



In the House of Commons on Monday, Sir W. Foster 

 asked yvhy dead specimens of cancar, preserved in a non- 

 deleterious fluid, have been declared to be forbidden 

 admittance to the post, and why certain specimens, 

 addressed to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, were 

 ordered to be destroyed immediately on their arrival in 

 this country from abroad. In the course of his reply, Mr. 

 Buxton said : — " The cancer specimens addressed to the 

 Cancer Research Fund are, I am informed on the highest 

 authority, harmless ; and, as I am assured that the use 

 of the post is of great importance for the successful 

 prosecution of the researches of the fund, I hope to be able 

 to make a special exception in their favour. I think it 

 desirable, however, that the matter should be discussed 

 yvith the delegates of the countries principally concerned 

 at the approaching Postal Congress, and I have instructed 



