November io, 1898] 



NATURE 



39 



services it justly claims. Why, then, should choice fall, as it 

 has fallen, lipon a comparatively junior Fellow who, whatever 

 his scientific merit, is unknown as a leader in science? Is there 

 no room at present for another planet in the official firmament ? 

 Whatever be the cause, a large number of Fello-.vs view with 

 dismay this departure from the wise tradition which required 

 pre-eminence amongst the eminent in science as the passport to 

 the position of officer in the Royal Society, and to many the 

 nomination, if it be confirmed, will appear a damaging blow to 

 the society's prestige. 



It may be that notwithstanding the protest referred to those 

 responsible for the nomination do not realise its full significance 

 and the feeling it has stirred. If this be as strong as it appears 

 there is provided by the constitution of the society at the 

 general meeting on the 30th an opportunity for its expression. 

 I am, &c., F.R.S. 



It may be remarked that on looking back into the 

 history of the Society, we find the last four Treasurers to 

 have been — 



General Sabine .. ... 1850 



Prof. W. A. Miller l86l 



Dr. Spottiswoode ... ... ... ... 1S70 



Sir John Evans ... ... ... ... 1S7S 



NOTES. 



Tun Royal Society's medals have this year been adjudicated 

 as follows: — Copley Medal, Sir William Huggins, F. R. S. ; 

 Royal Medals, Rev. John Kerr, F. R.S., Mr. Walter Gardiner, 

 F.R.S. ; Rumford Medal, Prof. Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. ; Davy 

 Medal, Prof. Johannes Wislicenus, For. Mem. R.S. ; Darwin 

 Medal, Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S. 



Ar the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society on 

 November 30, the following names will be recommended for 



I election into the Council of the Society for the year 1S99: — 



' President : Lord Lister. Treasurer : Alfred Bray Kempe. 



1 Secretaries : Prof. Michael Foster, Prof. Arthur William 

 Riicker. Foreign Secretary: Sir Edward Frankland, K.C. B. 

 Other members of the Council : Prof. Thomas George Bonney, 

 Captain Ettrick William Creak, R.N., Prof. Daniel John 

 Cunningham, Prof. James Dewar, Prof. William Dobinson 



' Halliburton, Prof. William Abbott Herdman, Victor A. H. 



' Horsley, Joseph Larmor, Prof. Nevil Story Maskelyne, Sir 



I Andrew Xoble, K.C.B., Prof. Edward Bagnall Poulton, 

 Dr. William James Russell, Prof. Arthur Schuster, Dr. Dukin- 

 field Henry Scott, Dr. George Johnstone Stoney, Prof. Joseph 



I John Thomson. 



I Prof. Ostwald will give an address at University College, 

 Gower Street, on Monday next, November 14, at 5 p.m., in 

 I the Chemical Theatre. Visitors are invited. 



The appointment of a Commission, consisting mainly of scien- 

 tific experts, to report upon the plague in India, has already been 

 j referred to in these columns (vol. Iviii. p. 626). We now learn 

 ', that Dr. Thomas R. Eraser, F.R.S. , Professor of Materia Medica 

 I and Clinical Medicine at Edinburgh University, has accepted the 

 I duty of president, and with him will be associated two other 

 scientific experts, Dr. Wright, Professor of Pathology at the 

 ■ Army Medical School, Netley, and Dr. Riiffer, who has been for 

 some time head of the Egyptian Sanitary Department at Cairo. 

 JTwo officers of the Indian Civil Service, Mr. J. P. Hewett, and 

 jMr. A. Cumine, both of whom have had much to do with 

 (recent plague affairs in India, have also been appointed to the 

 jCommission by the Government of India. The scope of the 

 /Commissioners' inquiries will include (i) the origin of the 

 Idifferent outbreaks of plague ; {2) the manner in which the 

 'disease is communicated ; (3) the effects of certain prophylactic 

 ^and curvative serums that have been tried or recommended for 

 jthe disease. The members of the Conmiission will reach 

 JBombay towards the end of the present month. 



NO. 15 15, VOL. 59J 



Mr. Cecil B. CRAJirrox, of the University of Edinburgh, 

 has been appointed to the position of assistant-keeper in the 

 geological department of the Manchester Museum, Owens 

 College, in succession to Mr. Herbert Bolton. 



At the anniversary meeting of the Mineralogical Society, to 

 be held on Tuesday next, November 15, the election of officers 

 and Council will take place. Prof. A. H. Church, F.R.S., has 

 been nominated president, and Prof. G. D. Liveing, F.R.S., 

 and Dr. Hugo Miiller, F.R.S., vice-presidents. 



With reference to Dr. Calmette's gift of 10,000/. to the 

 Pasteur Institute at Lille, mentioned last week, the British 

 Medical Journal %\.aX.^% that, according to the terms of the deed 

 of gift, the money is to be applied provisionally to the defraying 

 of building expenses till the Municipal Council is in a position 

 to vote the sums required for that purpose. The money is 

 then to be employed in the purchase of material for new re- 

 searches, or for the maintenance of young men of science who 

 wish to make original researches in the laboratory. Dr. 

 Calmette states that the money which he has thus generously 

 bestowed, represents the profits accruing to him from the appli- 

 cation of one of his discoveries in a large distillery at Seclin. 



The new session of the Royal Geographical Society will 

 commence on Monday next, November 14, when addresses upon 

 the subject of a British -Antarctic expedition will be given by 

 the President and others. At a meeting on November 28, Mr. 

 C. W. Andrews will give an account of a year's work on 

 Christmas Island. Other papers which are announced are the 

 following : — " Exploration in the Caroline Islands," by F. W. 

 Christian ; '• Lake Rukwaand Central Africa," by L. A.Wallace ; 

 " In Search of Mount Hooker and Mount Brown in the Canadian 

 Rockies," by Dr. Norman Collie, F.R.S. ; " Oceans and Conti- 

 nents," by Dr. J. W. Gregory ; " Atlantic Highlands of the 

 United States," by Prof. W. M. Davis ; " Exploration in 

 Sokotra," by Dr. H. O. Forbes. 



Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., who last year completed fifty 

 years' connection with the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical 

 Society, during which period he on several occasions filled the 

 presidential chair, has just received a gratifying testimony of the 

 esteem in which he is held locally as well as in the broad world 

 of science. His admirers have had his portrait painted, and 

 presented it to him with an illuminated address on Tuesday in 

 last week. The portrait represents Dr. Sorby seated, and in his 

 scarlet academic gown. The inscription at the foot of the frame is 

 as follows:— "H. Clifton Sorby, LL.D., F.R.S. (1S47-1897). 

 This portrait was painted to celebrate Dr. Sorby's fifty years' 

 connection with the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society, 

 and to commemorate his world-wide scientific reputation. 

 Funds for the purpose were provided by subscription amongst 

 the proprietors and members of the Society. The artist was 

 Mrs. M. L. Waller, and the presentation was made on behalf 

 of the subscribers by the Lord Mayor of Sheffield on November I, 

 1S9S." 



The first meeting of the new session of the Society of Arts 

 will be held on Wednesday next, November 16, when an ad- 

 dress will be delivered by Sir John Wolfe Barry, K.C. B., 

 F.R.S., Chairman of the Council. Among the subjects of 

 papers to be read before Christmas are: "Long Distance 

 Transmission of Electric Power," by Prof. George Forbes, 

 F.R.S.; "Photographic Developers and Development," by 

 Mr. C. H. Bothamley. The papers for meetings after Christmas 

 include: "Tuberculosis in Animals," by Mr. W. Hunting; 

 " Canals and Inland Navigation in the United Kingdom," by 

 Mr. L. F. Vernon-Harcourt ; " Preservation of Timber," by 

 Mr. S. B. Boulton ; " Electric Traction and its Application to 



