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NATURE 
| JUNE .24, 1915 



the special scientific meetings and _ publica- 
tions of the society represent a mass of solid 
research, which is recognised by an exchange- 
list (p. 370) that includes nearly 500 institu- 
tions. 
Both Edinburgh and Dublin probably realise 
that it is hard to persuade workers in London to 
give the same attention to their publications as 
would be given to those of, say, Bordeaux or 
Bukarest; but the excellent facilities for rapid 
and effective publication fortunately retain a 
representative output for these capitals. The 
attempt that was at one time made to convert the 
Royal Dublin Society into the “Royal Society of 
Dublin” seems to have been based in a miscon- 
ception of its primary functions, and the change 
would undoubtedly have minimised the important 
difference between the work of the society and 
that of the Royal Irish Academy. But from the 
first the society’s promoters realised that industrial 
progress must be based on scientific observation, 
and they prepared the way for that union of 
research with technical instruction which is 
the foundation of the most popular Govern- 
ment department in Ireland at the present 
day. 
The production of this handsome volume is 
largely due to the interest and munificence of the 
late President, Lord Ardilaun, whose portrait 
appropriately appears in it. The portraits as a 
whole are of considerable interest, and include a 
characteristic photograph of one of the most 
lovable of men, the late George Johnstone Stoney. 
We have made no mention of the society’s early 
and continuous encouragement of art, resulting 
in the present art-school; but, as we have hinted, 
the whole history is that of intellectual, as well as 
industrial, progress throughout Ireland. The 
book has few misprints and few omissions. We 
do not know whether Mr. Berry is serious when he 
writes on p. 116, “a figure taken from a book 
entitled ‘The Sorrows of Werter.’” 
DR. J. W. JENKINSON. 
N Dr. J. W. Jenkinson, whose death in 
Gallipoli we announced last week, science 
has lost a devoted and distinguished son. His 
friends in Oxford had scarcely realised that he 
had reached the Front when news came that he 
was killed in action on June 4. A keen member 
of the Oxford Volunteer Training Corps he 
applied for a commission, though over age, and 
joined the 12th Worcestershire regiment in 
January last. He was promoted to a captaincy 
on April 1, and on May 10 left for service in 
the Dardanelles, being one of a draft of six 
officers from his regiment attached to the 
2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers. 
Born in 1871, John Wilfred Jenkinson came 
up to Oxford from Bradfield College in 1890, 
gaining a classical scholarship at Exeter College. 
As a boy at Bradfield he had taken keen interest 
in the botany of the district, and several of his 
NO. 2382, VOL. 95] 

‘endurance in the presence of difficulties. 
finds are recorded in Druce’s ‘Flora of Berk- 
shire.” At Oxford, after following the line 
indicated by his entrance scholarship and taking 
honours in the Classical Schools, he turned to 
zoological science. For some time he studied 
zoology at University College, London, under 
Professor Weldon; and then, returning to Oxford, 
soon joined the teaching staff of the Department 
of comparative anatomy. He became a doctor 
of science in 1905, and in the following year was 
made university lecturer in comparative and 
experimental embryology. Exeter College elected 
him to a research fellowship in 1909. In 1905 he 
married Constance Stephenson. 
Embryology was, almost from the first, the 
branch of zoology which held most attraction for 
Jenkinson. His first published research was on 
the “Early Stages of the Development of the 
Mouse” (Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., 1900), partly 
the result of work done at Utrecht in the labora- 
tory of the illustrious Dutch zoologist the late 
Prof. Hubrecht. Since then various papers have 
appeared from his pen, dealing chiefly with early 
development, the placenta, and the origin of the 
mammalian ear-bones. In 1913 he brought out 
an excellent text-book on “Vertebrate Embry- 
ology,” containing an account of the history of 
the germ-cells, the formation of the germ-layers, 
and the development of the placenta. 
From the study of normal development he soon 
passed to the more stimulating field of experi- 
mental embryology, a science of recent growth, 
up to that time scarcely studied in this country. 
Several important papers giving the results of 
experimental researches were published in the 
Archiv f. Entwickelungs-mechanik, Biometrika, 
and the Quart. Journal of Microscopical Science. 
Jenkinson is, however, perhaps best known as 
the author of the first comprehensive English 
text-book on experimental embryology (“ Experi- 
mental Embryology,’’ Oxford 1909). This useful 
book is an able critical and well-reasoned 
summary of practically all that had been written 
on the subject up to the date of its publication. 
It will long endure as a worthy monument of his 
fruitful scientific labours. 
The premature loss of such a_ promising 
scientific worker will be felt not only in Oxford, 
but also throughout the scientific world. His 
death brings home to us the irreparable waste 
to which the war has condemned Europe; and it 
is, alas! likely to be but one of many such losses. 
Those are not seldom the readiest to sacrifice 
themselves who have the most to give. Jenkinson’s 
patriotic ardour, his signal energy in duty, will 
stamp him in the admiring memory of friends 
and colleagues. To die fighting for a noble cause 
was the end most fitting to a life wholly devoted 
to the highest ideals. He was gifted with 
indomitable courage and great powers of 
These 
and other qualities he spent ungrudgingly 
for twenty years in the cause of science and 
for the last few months in the service of his 
country. 
