NATURE 



433 



THURSDAY, MARCH ii, i5 



THE SCIENTIFIC RELIEF FUND 

 A TIME in which so many heartrending calls are being 

 made upon the benevolent seems but ill-adapted for 

 pressing any schemes not immediately connected with 

 any specially urgent distress. There is, however, at present 

 an appeal being made by the Royal Society to all who 

 are in any way interested in science, which, though on 

 behalf of a permanent fund, and not connected with any 

 ephemeral distress, has long been felt to be necessary, and 

 which peculiar circumstances render it imperative now to 

 press forward without delay. 



For some years past the Scientific Relief Fund ad- 

 ministered by the Royal Society has been found insuf- 

 ficient properly to meet the numerous claims made upon 

 it, and the Committee in charge of the Fund has been 

 frequently hampered in its action in consequence. Of 

 course the demands upon it are variable in their character 

 and extent, being chiefly dependent on what may be called 

 the chapter of accidents ; but there are few years that 

 pass without some one of greater or less scientific repute 

 being carried off by an untimely death without having 

 made due provision for those whom he leaves behind 

 him ; and perhaps fewer years still in which some earnest 

 worker is not laid low by sickness, and finds himself 

 reduced by an unforeseen chain of circumstances to a 

 condition in which a grant from a fund administered by 

 his scientific brethren is of inestimable value both mate- 

 rially and morally. 



The income of the Scientific Relief Fund has not 

 hitherto e.xceeded some 250/. per annum, its capital at 

 the close of last year being about 7500/. With the view 

 of increasing this capital sum to at least 20,000/. a most 

 munificent offer has been made by Sir William Armstrong, 

 who was among the original founders of the Fund. It is 

 that he will present 6500/. to the Fund provided certain 

 conditions are fulfilled, the principal of which is that an 

 equal amount be raised from other sources within the 

 current year. We earnestly hope that there may be no 

 difficulty in accomplishing this, and, with the view of 

 making the scope and character of the Fund !iiore fully 

 understood, we annex a few explanatory particulars. 



It was in the year 1859 that the idea of creating a 

 Scientific Relief Fund occurred to the minds of the late 

 Mr. Gassiot and some other Fellows of the Royal Society, 

 and the regulations under which it was to be adminis- 

 tered were carefully considered, and, having been adopted 

 by the Royal Society, have remained practically un- 

 changed until the present day. The object of the Fund 

 is defined to be for the aid of such scientific men or their 

 families as may from time to time require and deserve 

 assistance- Cases, however, can only be entertained on 

 the recommendation of a President of one of th;- char- 

 tered Societies, it being understood that he consults the 

 Councils over which he presides as to the person whom 

 he intends to recommend for relief The Committee 

 administering the Fund, though Fellows of the Royal 

 Society, are not members of its Council, and the senior 

 member of its body retires annually, another Fellow 

 being appointed in his place. It will thua he seen that 

 Vol. XXXIII. — No. 854 



every reasonable precaution has been taken for the im- 

 partial and judicious administration of the Fund ; and 

 since its foundation nearly a hundred recipients of well- 

 timed grants have had reason to bless its existence. 



It may perhaps be said that men of science ought to 

 be able to foresee what is coming, and be prepared to 

 meet all the changes and chances of this mortal life, ar \ 

 possibly as a class they are more than usually exempt 

 from those reverses of fortune to which all are liable. It 

 is, however, the unforeseen that constantly occurs, and 

 the temporary aid which, by means of such a Fund, a 

 man can receive from a committee of his fellow-workers 

 may be accepted with all gratitude, and without that 

 humiliation which would be felt did the relief proceed 

 from any more ordinary source of charity. 



But although men of science may as a rule be prudent, 

 it can hardly be said that they are as a class rich. Their 

 researches may aid others in the acquisition of material 

 wealth, but the cases are exceptional where the pursuit of 

 science has brought large pecuniary gains to the student. 

 Where it has, we are confident that others besides Sir 

 William Armstrong will aid those less fortunate in this 

 particular than themselves by contributing liberally to this 

 Fund. 



There is, however, another and important class ot 

 persons whose ample fortunes have been the result of 

 the judicious application of science in economic pursuits, 

 and we may be sure that the wants of the Fund have only 

 to be brought under their notice to assure ready and 

 efficient aid in raising the amount necessary to meet 

 Sir William Armstrong's munificent offer. Already we 

 see on the list a noble subscription of five hundred guineas 

 from Mr. Ludwig Mond, and we venture to hope that by 

 thus giving publicity to what is at present being done to 

 enlarge the scope of this most useful Fund, others directly 

 and indirectly interested in science may be led to follow 

 so generous an example. 



Looking at the extent to which the material welfare of 

 this country has now for many years been intimately con- 

 nected with its scientific progress, the debt due from all 

 to the workers in science must at once be appreciated, 

 and a more practical manner of acknowledging this in- 

 debtedness can hardly be suggested than that of contri- 

 buting to the Scientific Relief Fund. 



THE BOTANY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN 



REGION 



Manual of the Botany of the Rocky Mountain Region, 



from New Mexico to the British Boundary. By John 



M. Coulter, Ph.D., Professor of Botany in the Wabash 



College. (New York and Chicago : Ivison, Blakeman 



Taylor, and Co, 1885.) 



'r'HE object of this manual, as stated in the preface, is 



1- to do for the range of country in which the plants 



it describes are found, what has for a long time been so 



admirably done for the North-Eastern States of the 



Union by Asa Gray's manual. It hence affords a means 



of comparison between two distant areas, each of such 



considerable dimensions as to throw much light on the 



flora of temperate North America. And not only with 



the flora of the Eastern States does it compare, for, the 



botany of the great Western area included in California 



