“oe 
April tg, 1883 | 
NATORE 
75 
on 
provided that the author has duly declared himself a can- 
didate. Every treatise must be in print and in the English 
language, and must bear the name of its author. It 
seems to be contemplated that some definite problem will 
always be involved in the subject announced, the solution 
of which will be considered as the essential condition of 
success. But if it shall appear that although this has not 
been accomplished any candidate has made valuable pro- 
gress towards its accomplishment, or has even incidentally 
made some discovery of practical importance, the merits 
of such candidate will be recognised by the award of a 
part of the sum offered. 
Such is the scheme; we think it will be generally 
regarded as well adapted for the accomplishment of the 
end proposed. The objections to which it is liable are 
exclusively those which are applicable to all similar 
schemes for the encourage nent of research by pecuniary 
endowment. 
To the Discovery Prize we attach less value than to the 
other. In the natural sciences discoveries are usually 
made by men to whom the prospect of a reward, however 
munificent, would not be a sufficiently strong reason to 
induce them to change the course or purpose of their 
investigations. It is the consideration of this fact, no 
doubt, which has led the Company, we think very wisely, 
to determine to accept published researches in competi- 
tion; but here the difficulty at once arises, for the dis- 
covery must relate to a particular question previously 
announced. How will the selection of this question be 
made? 
It is clearly desirable that on each occasion the problem 
selected should be one which will certainly meet with its 
solution during the next four years—and therefore one as 
to which investigation is already in progress. To antici- 
pate what will and must soon be discovered is half way 
towards discovery, and consequently demands, on the 
part of the individuals intrusted with the selection, powers 
at least equal to those which it is proposed to recognise 
in the bestowal of the prize. Nothing could be better 
than that Prof. Tyndall, Mr. Simon and the other scientific 
advisers of the Company should have the opportunity 
given them, or rather the duty imposed upon them, of 
publishing these forecasts of the probable progress of 
knowledge in relation to the causes of disease, for, even 
if their prognostications serve no other purpose, they will 
at least be of use in directing inquiry into the most 
promising channels. 
The more important division of the scheme—that which 
relates to the scholarships—is open to no objections of 
the kind referred to above. Its purpose is simple, and 
the way in which it is proposed to carry it out effectual. 
It is of course quite as impossible to make a worker of a 
man by giving him a scholarship as to make a discoverer 
of him by offering him a prize, but there is this difference 
between the two cases, that the endowment evadles, the 
prize only vewards. The scholarships are limited to 
candidates under thirty-five. Among men of this age 
who are now working at pathology in this country we 
may be sure that there are some who are doing so, if one 
may so express it, at the cost of life, for they are devoting 
to investigations which certainly will not pay, time which 
could otherwise be spent with direct advantage to them- 
selves ; and that there are among such men some at least 
‘ 
who are fitted by nature to undertake the work of investi- 
gation, and have the additional qualifications afforded by 
training in scientific methods. Their number is no doubt 
very inconsiderable, for pathology as a science is of very 
recent birth. Itis the offspring of physiology, and has 
only just arrived at such a stage of development as to 
claim an independent position. By reason of its being in 
this evolutionary condition it happens in pathology, as 
in all other sciences during the initial stage of their 
growth, that the more work is done the more is re- 
quired—the completion of each bit of research only 
preparing the way for fresh investigations. New me- 
thods, new applications. of physical, chemical, or physio- 
logical knowledge to the problems which relate to the 
causes of disease, are being brought within reach of 
the pathological worker every year, but all of these 
require work to make them fruitful. There is therefore 
not the least reason for apprehending that there will be any 
difficulty in finding subjects for future inquiries. It is far 
more doubtful whether the men possessing the qualifications 
which have been already indicated will be forthcoming. 
At first, if we are not mistaken, the choice will be very 
restricted, but each year will bring an accession of 
strength to the ranks of the competitors, so that if in the 
first instance the Company should be advised for want of 
suitable applicants to allow one or more of their scholar- 
ships to remain vacant, they will act wisely in delaying 
the appointment. 
We do not think that the difficulty will arise, for the tide 
has already turned. Practical medicine, which has hither- 
to been strangely indifferent to the science on which it 
professes to be founded, is awakening to the importance 
of scientific investigation of the cause and nature of 
diseases. Among indications of the change may be 
mentioned the origin and successful progress of the new 
“Association for the Advancement of Medicine by Re- 
search,’ which has begun its function by devoting its 
funds to an inquiry into the etiology of tuberculosis. 
Another fact of equal moment as indicating the recogni- 
tion of pathology as a special subject of study, is the 
intended establishment of a Professorship of the science 
in the University of Cambridge—an example which will 
no doubt soon be followed by the sister University. When 
this shall have been accomplished it may be hoped that 
the great educational institutions which are attached to 
Guy’s, Bartholomew’s, and St. Thomas’s Hospitals may 
be also induced to follow the example of the Worshipful 
Company of Grocers, by doing something more than they 
have done hitherto to encourage and provide for “the 
making of exact researches into the causes of important 
diseases and the means whereby these causes may be 
prevented or obviated.” 
ELEMENTARY METEOROLOGY 
Elementary Meteorology. By R. H. Scott, M.A., F.R.S., 
Secretary to the Meteorological Council. (London: 
Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co., 1883.) 
M R. SCOTT’S aim in this text-book of meteorology 
is to explain the conditions required for the 
successful prosecution of the science, and to show in 
some detail the more prominent of the results which have 
already been arrived at. The various instruments are 
