NATURE 



[June 5, 19 13 



of agriculture in the University of Cambridge, and 

 now assistant secretary, Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries, has been appointed a Companion of the 

 Order of the Bath (C.B.). The appointments to the 

 Order of the Indian Empire (CLE.) include Major 

 G. K. Walker, professor of sanitary science, Punjab 

 Veterinary College ; Mr. L. Mercer, president of the 

 Forest Research Institute and College, Dehra Dun ; 

 and Mr. J. H. Lace, Chief Conservator of Forests, 

 Burma. 



In opening, on Tuesday, June 3, the new buildings 

 of the medical school at Guy's Hospital, Mr. A. J. 

 Balfour delivered an address in which he pleaded for 

 the endowment of research. In the course of his 

 remarks he said : — Some people unacquainted with the 

 movement of modern science may ask why it is that 

 in 1913 apparatus, buildings, and expenditure of all 

 kinds are required infinitely in excess of what was 

 necessary even fifty years ago. The necessity arises 

 not merely through the growth of the great urban 

 population, but through the inherent progress of 

 science itself. Fifty years ago some branches of 

 science, such as physics, biology, and even some 

 modern parts of chemistry, although studied by those 

 who intended to devote their lives to medicine, had 

 nevertheless an incomparably smaller connection with 

 medicine than exists at the present time. As the 

 connection of other collateral sciences with the science 

 and practice of medicine has become closer, so the 

 apparatus required has greatly increased in cost, so the 

 amount of knowledge required from the teachers and 

 the specialisation of the teachers have grown, until 

 we may sometimes wonder how it is possible for any 

 physician in a great practice even to keep himself 

 abreast of what is being done in his own country and 

 by researchers in all the other countries who are now 

 engaged in happy rivalry for the furtherance of know- 

 ledge. 



Besides the man of practical intuition and besides 

 the man who can teach, Mr. Balfour added in the 

 address referred to above, we want, if a medical school 

 is to be all that it might be, a man who can investigate, 

 a man who possesses that kind of originality which 

 enables him to point out in what direction the next 

 advance should be made, where progress may be ex- 

 pected, where nature may, under existing conditions, 

 be most easily compelled to yield up her secrets. This 

 man is the researcher. Genius is rare in any country 

 and in any profession. All that organisation can do 

 is to give to those rarely endowed individuals some 

 opportunity by which they can exercise effectively for 

 the common advantage the gifts which God has given 

 them. If a man is going to devote to research hours 

 which might profitably be given to the general practice 

 of his profession, he must have a position of security 

 in which he can feel that he is not sacrificing the 

 interest of those nearest and dearest to him in the 

 pursuit and advancement of new knowledge. The 

 public must assist the great hospitals by a form of 

 endowment which will enable them when they obtain 

 a man with a genius for research to keep him and 

 to use him. There are men who have quite a unique 

 talent for research, who probably would not be very- 

 great clinical physicians. Places must be found for 

 NO. 2275, VOL. 91] 



such men. This is absolutely necessary if there is to 

 be a true organisation of medical research. The 

 actual sufferings of the moment touch all hearts, but 

 my appeal now is for the future, in favour of having 

 academic lines of research of which the public knows 

 nothing and yet on which depends the real future 

 of the healing art. 



The bicentenary of the Imperial Botanic Garden 

 at St. Petersburg, which was founded in 17 13 by 

 Peter the Great, will be celebrated this month. 



Lord Glenconner has presented 1000L to the Edin- 

 burgh Royal Infirmary for the purchase of radium to 

 be used in the work of the institution. 



The twentv-fourth conference of the Museums 

 Association is to be held in Hull from July 14 to iS, 

 when Mr. E. Howarth will occupy the chair. 



Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., has been ap- 

 pointed an additional member of the Departmental 

 Committee on the lighting of factories and work- 

 shops. 



News has reached us from Mexico of the death, on 

 April 23, at forty-seven years of age, of Prof. L. G. 

 Le6n, general secretary of the Mexico Astronomical 

 Society. His death is deeply regretted by the mem- 

 bers of the society, who appreciate highly his activity 

 and work for astronomical science. 



On June 11 the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor of 

 London will officially open the Anglo-German Exhibi- 

 tion at the Crystal Palace. The exhibition includes a 

 section on industry, with subsections relating to 

 chemistry, surgical and optical instruments, elec- 

 tricity, and agriculture and forestry, among others. 



An excursion to Minehead and district, West Somer- 

 set, has been arranged by the Geologists' Association 

 for June 20-24. The directors are Mr. L. Richardson 

 and the president, Dr. J. W. Evans. On the Satur- 

 day, June 21, there will be an opportunity to study 

 the classic sections of Upper Keuper, Rhastic, and 

 Lower Lias in the neighbourhood of Watchet. 



Announcement is made that Mr. Arthur James has 

 decided, as a memorial to his late brother, Mr. 

 William James, to give the income of a sum of 

 2o,oooZ. for cancer research to the Middlesex Hospital, 

 as being the institution where clinical and pathological 

 researches on the disease are most closely combined. 



Prof. A. G. Ruthven, curator of the museum of 

 the University of Michigan, is in charge of an ex- 

 pedition that will sail from New York on June 15 

 for Colombia, South America. The expedition will 

 make its headquarters near Santa Marta, and will 

 study the fauna from the sea-level to the mountain 

 summits. The party will also include Prof. A. S. 

 Pearse, of Wisconsin, and Mr. F. Gaii;.'. 



The autumn meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute 

 will be held in Brussels, from Monday to Thursday, 

 September 1-4. The opening meeting will be held in 

 the hall of the Palais des Academies on Monday, Sep- 

 tember 1, when a selection of papers will be read and 

 discussed. In the evening a reception will be held 

 by the burgomaster at the Hotel de Ville. It is hoped 



