NA TURE 



[December 29, 1898 



Institute, and the Council, after careful consideration of 

 the financial position, most reluctantly decided to 

 -abandon completion of the original plan of the Institute, 

 and to leave it an unfinished building. The plans were 

 -accordingly modified by the architect, and a portion of 

 the building was proceeded with and completed last 

 year. The Institute took possession of the new 

 building in May of this year, when the fittings of the 

 main laboratories were completed. The fittings of the 

 building, as it at present stands, are now all but com- 

 pleted. A most promising start has been made, and the 

 facilities for investigation and instruction are being 

 widely taken advantage of. 



The Jenner Memorial Committee decided last autumn 

 to transfer any funds it might receive to the Institute. 

 The Council, in view of this, decided to alter the title to 

 the Jenner Institute, and in this way to commemorate 

 permanently the memory of Jenner and his work. The 

 necessary legal formalities were completed on the 6th 

 inst., and the Institute from that date continued its work 

 as the Jenner Institute of Preventive Medicine. 



Lord Iveagh was a generous contributor to the Jenner 

 Fund. .At the same time, the financial outlook was by 

 no means rosy — working expenses had greatly increased 

 at Chelsea ; the salaries of the staff" were insufficient, 

 and subscriptions were coming in slowly. These facts 

 were causing serious anxiety to those responsible for the 

 management of the Institute. On December 20, Lord 

 Lister was able to communicate to the Council of the 

 Institute Lord Iveagh's munificent offer, along with the 

 conditions attached to it. The public announcement of 

 this noble gift and its cordial acceptance was made by 

 Lord Lister and Sir Henry Roscoe in a letter to the 

 press on the 23rd inst. The letter states that the be- 

 quest is given on the condition that in future the control 

 and mangement of the affairs of the Institute be placed 

 in the hands of a new Board of seven Trustees, three of 

 the seven to be chosen by the Council of the Institute, 

 three by the donor, and one by the Council of the Royal 

 Society. 



It is further proposed that the building of the Insti- 

 tute at Chelsea be enlarged, and the original scheme 

 of the san-.e completed : that the sadly inadequate 

 salaries of the director and other members of the staff' be 

 increased, and that valuable scholarships and student- 

 ships in connection with the Institute be established. 

 There are, of course, many details to be arranged and 

 settled ; but it will be seen that the scheme is far-reaching, 

 •comprehensive and carefully thought out, whilst the 

 conditions attached are by no means onerous. 



The rare modesty of the donor will not, we feel 

 sure, prevent the realisation of the general wish that his 

 name be gratefully and permanently associated with the 

 beneficent work he is about to inaugurate. 



Amongst the first results will be, as desired by Lord 

 Iveagh, the completion of the Chelsea building ; and the 

 foundations being already laid, this can be proceeded 

 with without delay. The provision to be made for an 

 adequate emolument to the members of the staff", along 

 with the establishment of scholarships and studentships, 

 will furnish an incentive and encouragement hitherto 

 lacking to workers in this field. Many promising re- 

 searches have of necessity been postponed at the Institute, 

 through the difficulty in finding sufficient assistance to 

 carry them out. Large questions can now be attacked, 

 and the time ungrudgingly given to their elucidation by 

 properly trained experts. A small stream of research 

 work has issued from the Institute ; this will be widened 

 and deepened. The students, who have come from all 

 parts of the country and the empire for instruction in 

 bacteriology and preventive medicine, will increase in 

 numbers with the unique facilities that will be placed at 

 •iheir disposal. 



The establishment of a British and Imperial Institute 



NO. 1522, VOL. 59] 



of Bacteriology is now within a measurable distance of 

 realisation. The present building at Chelsea contains, 

 amongst its main features, the following departments : — 

 (i) The bacteriological laboratories, devoted to bacterio- 

 logical investigation and instruction in connection with 

 medicine, public health, and the pathology of disease. 



(2) The chemical and water laboratories, dealing mainly 

 with water, soil, air, and food, in their hygienic aspects. 



(3) The Hansen laboratory, dealing with the practical 

 applications of bacteriology to agriculture, brewing, dairy 

 and other industries. (4) Research rooms for advanced 

 workers, and museum and lecture theatre. I'j > The re- 

 quisite facilities for experimental work and investigation 

 in connection with the causation and prevention of 

 disease. 



This work will now be placed on a sure and permanent 

 basis, and the Institute will be brought fully abreast with 

 the best foreign laboratories devoted to bacteriology. 

 Through Lord Iveagh's munificence, the objects for which 

 the Institute was established can now be developed on a 

 scale commensurate with their importance. 



All.^n Macfadyen. 



GEORGE JAMES ALLMAN. 



IN George James .Allman, who died at his residence, 

 Ardmore, Parkstone, Dorset, on Thursday, November 

 24, at the advanced age of eighty-six, zoological science 

 has lost a zealous and most accomplished worker, the 

 world a great man. He was born at Cork in 1812, 

 being the eldest son of Mr. James .-Mlman, of Bandon, in 

 that county, and was educated at the Belfast .Academical 

 Institution, originally for the Bar. .As with so many 

 others born to science, he early drifted into paths most 

 congenial to his nature, and accordingly graduated in 

 Arts and Medicine in the University of Dublin. He 

 became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, 

 Ireland, in 1842, and a Fellow in 1S44, and took his -M.D. 

 (University, Dublin) and (University, Oxford) in 1847. 

 He from early days displayed a passionate devotion to 

 the study of organic nature, and so highly was he esteemed 

 that during the year of his graduation he was appointed 

 Regius Professor of Botany in the Dublin University. 

 Here the late Professor of tieology, Becte-Jukes, was one 

 of his most intimate friends. Thus embarked on a 

 career of scientific work and investigation, .Allman gave 

 up all thought of the medical profession, and ten 

 years later resigned the Dublin chair for that of Regius 

 Professor of Natural History in the University of 

 Edinburgh, with which was incorporated the Keepership 

 of the Natural History Museum, and these combined 

 offices he held until 1870, when he retired into private 

 life. In Edinburgh he was no less a favourite than in 

 Dublin ; and his lifelong friendship with the late Lord 

 Playfair, Lord Shand, and many of his most brilliant 

 contemporaries began in that good old town, where he 

 built himself the house in Manor Place, where his clever 

 and charming wife made so happy a home for himself 

 and his friends. During his period of activity in the 

 two great capitals named, Allman laboured with untiring 

 zeal, ever intent on the progress of science and the best 

 interests of those who came under his charge. On his 

 retirement, first to London and afterwards to Parkstone 

 ^ Dorset), his energy never flagged, the most conspicuous 

 change in his actions being the substitution of the per- 

 sonal care of a small but very picturesque estate of five 

 or six acres at Parkstone, having great possibilities for 

 a naturalist and lover of outdoor life, for the more 

 fatiguing duties of the reception- and drawing-room, 

 encumbent upon him in his professorial capacity. Not 

 that .Mlman despised the latter, for, on the contrary, 

 while in Edinburgh especially, his drawing-room was 

 the rendezvous of the cultured, drawn together by 



