538 



NA TURE 



[Ai-Kir, lo, 1902 



where reproduction is proceeding most actively. Fig. 5 

 is a large flask containing a fluid culture through which 

 air was passed continuously while the photograph was 

 taken. 



My investigations on these organisms have been 

 carried out at the Jenner Institute of Preventive Medicine, 

 and 1 am greatly indebted to Dr. Allan Macfadyen for 

 help and advice during the progress of the work. 



J. E. Barn.\rd. 



INTERNA TIONAL COMMITTEE OF WEIGHTS 



AND MEASURES. 

 'X'HE International Committee of Weights and 

 -*■ Measures at Paris has just issued an account 

 of its business and proceedings for the past year.' It 

 would appear from the report of the director of the 

 International Bureau (at Sevres, near Paris), made to the 

 Committee at their session in October last, that the work 

 of the Bureau has, under the directions of the Committee, 

 included :— Research as to the mass of a cubic decimetre 

 of water (giving for the specific mass of water at 4" C. 

 a value equal to 09999707) ; the study of dividing 

 engines ; investigations as to the dilatation of metals, 

 the precise measurement of temperature, &c. The 

 ordinary verification work of the Bureau during the past 

 year has included : — The re-verification of metric 

 standards (metres and kilogrammes) for the High Con- 

 tracting States who have given adhesion to tlie Metric 

 Convention, 1875 ; the verification of standards (particu- 

 larly thermometers, and decimetres) for a large number 

 of scientific and official authorities; and the installation 

 of new bases for geodetic measurements. We are glad 

 to see that the Committee has now been able to extend 

 and repair its laboratories at the Pavilion de Breteuil 

 and to perfect its arrangements for undertaking elec- 

 trical measurements. 



We congratulate the new secretary of the Cominittee, 

 Prof. P. Blazerna (Rome) ; who has succeeded the late 

 secretary the lamented Dr. A. Hirsch ; on the present 

 issue of the Proceeding!: of the Committee. Four useful 

 appendices are attached to the volume, including : — 

 Annexe i., on the danger of introducing normal secondary 

 standards in the definition of metric units ; a resume 

 (anne.xe ii.) of legislation in different countries, derived 

 trom reports presented to both Houses of Parliament by 

 the British Foreign Office in 1900 and 1901 ; and 

 particularly annexe iv . which recapitulates the decisions 

 of the Troisii-me Conference Cencrale held at Paris last 

 October, as to the definition of the metric units, metre, 

 kilogramme and litre, and the true measurements of 

 standards of those units. The Committee also was 

 much engaged in the discussion of these definitions, 

 which are now published in the Comptc rcru/iis des 

 iSdances de la Conference (Paris, 1901). 



The members of the Committee included MM. 

 Amdstcn, D'Arrillaga, Benoit, Blazerna, De Bodola, 

 Chaney, Cornu. Efjoroff, Gautier, Hasselberg, Hepites, 

 Von Lang, De Macedo ; and M. Mendelceff, formerly an 

 active member of .the Committee, has now been named 

 one of the honorary members of the Committee. 



Last year the annual budget of the Conmiittee was, as 

 in previous years,' fixed at 75,000 francs : but at the 

 meeting at Paris in October 1901 of the C.eneral Con- 

 ference it was proposed that the budget should be 

 increased to 100,000 francs annually. This proposition 

 ■did not, however, receive the support of the delegate 

 from (ireat Britain, but we are now glad to see that the 

 Treasury has given its sanction for the increase in the 

 proportionate contribution payable by this country to 

 the Committee, based on the annual budget of 100,000 

 francs. 



* Comil6 International des Poids et Me 

 (Paris : Gaiithier Villars, 1902 ) 1 vol 



NO. t69_^, vol. 65] 



Jrcs." Proces Verla 



Pp. 



SIR JOHN DONNELL V, K.C.B. 



CIR JOHN DONNELLV, whose death occurred on 

 •--' Saturday last after a painful illness of more than six 

 weeks, will probably be best remembered for his unceasing 

 and devoted service in developing and administering 

 (jOvernment.il schemes for the promotion of scientific 

 education in this country. .Soon after the end of the 

 Crimean War, throuj'h which he served with distinc- 

 tion as a Lieutenant of Royal Engineers, being twice 

 mentioned in despatches and recommended for the 

 Victoria Cross — an honour, however, rather unjustly 

 withheld from hiin — he was appointed to the charge of 

 a detachment of Royal Engineers quartered at the South 

 Kensington Museum. At that time this institution was 

 but newly born, under the fostering care of the Depart- 

 ment of Science and Art, the principal permanent chief 

 being Sir Henry Cole, who formed the highest opinion of 

 Donnelly's marked abilities as a clear-sighted, shrewd 

 and wholly trustworthy young officer. About 1858-1859, 

 Captain Donnelly succeeded the late Lord (then 

 Dr.) Playfair as inspector for science, and a general 

 scheme of grants applicable to the whole country was 

 formulated and set in operation. The subjects of 

 science towards which instruction in aid was obtainable 

 were at first few. Among the examiners was Huxley, 

 with whom Donnelly came to be closely associated. 

 This close association ripened into an intimate and 

 afl'ectionate friendship. It is probable that to few, if any, 

 other men did Donnelly turn with equal confidence 

 for counsel and advice more frequently than he did to 

 Huxley. 



From a beginning of thirty-eight local science classes 

 and schools with 1330 students in 1 860 were developed 

 the existing 2000 classes and schools attended by at least 

 160,000 students. Grants for practical work in labora- 

 tories at such schools were made by the (Government in 

 1S70. As early as 1867 Donnelly had a large share in 

 putting forward a scheme for aiding local efforts to 

 establish local scholarships and exhibitions to assist the 

 higher instruction of students in science. 



Besides the management and care of these wide 

 reaching operations, he assisted in reorganising the old 

 Royal College of Chemistry in Oxford Street and the 

 School of Mmes in Jermyn Street which became in 1S90 

 the Royal College of Science, of wTiich the first dean 

 was the late Prof. Huxley. In 1868 Donnelly was ap- 

 pointed on a commission to consider what steps should 

 be taken to constitute a separate Department of Science 

 and Art for Ireland, and, acting also as secretary of the 

 commission, he drafted its report. The commission could 

 not see its way to reporting in favour of establishing a 

 separate Department, and up to Donnelly's retirement in 

 July 1899 various .State-aided institutions in Ireland were 

 subject generally to his control as -Secretary of the 

 Science and Art Department, to which office he was 

 appointed in 1884, having held the office of Director 

 for Science from 1873. 



To develop the Museum of .Science as a worthy com- 

 panion to the Museum of Art at South Kensington, 

 Donnelly pressed upon the notice of his chiefs the de- 

 sirability of holding a very important and successful loan 

 exhibition of scientific instrument's and apparatus, which 

 was opened in 1874 by Her Majesty (lueen \'ictoria in 

 person. This led to the formation of a museum of 

 scientific apparatus for teaching and research. For many 

 years after the retirement of Sir Henry Cole in 1S73, 

 Donnelly was untiring in his exertions to secure Parliamen- 

 tary grants for the completion and erection of properly 

 devised permanent buildings to house the Museums of 

 Art and .Science, the component sections of which were 

 dispersed throughout in temporary and straggling 

 makeshift galleries and sheds. The obvious scandal 

 that a Government could permit the existence of such a 



