January 2, 19 13] 



NATURE 



49: 



on the etiology and treatment of tuberculosis ; Mr. S. 

 Stoclcman (knighthood), chief veterinary officer to the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries ; Dr. W. G. Listen 

 (CLE.), director of the Bacteriological Laboratory, 

 Parel, and senior member of the Plague Research 

 Commission; and Prof. P. J. Bruhl (I.S.O.), Civil 

 Engineering College, Sibpur. 



The President of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries has appointed an advisory committee to 

 advise the Board on questions relating to the elucida- 

 tion through scientific research of problems affecting- 

 fisheries. The committee will be composed of the 

 following : — Mr. H. G. Maurice, Mr. F. G. Ogilvie, 

 C.B., Commander M. VV. C. Hepworth, C.B., Prof. 

 G. C. Bourne, F.R.S., Prof. J. S. Gardiner, F.R.S., 

 Prof. A. Dendy, F.R.S., Prof. W. A. Herdman, 

 F.R.S., Prof. A. Meek, Dr. A. E. Shipley, F.R.S., 

 Dr. E. W. MacBride, F.R.S., Dr. W. Evans Hoyle, 

 Dr. S. F. Harmer, F.R.S., Dr. G. H. Fowler, and 

 Dr. E. J. -Allen. Mr. H. G. Maurice, the assistant 

 secretary of the Fisheries Division of the Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries, will act as chairman of 

 the committee, and Mr. A. T. A. Dobson, of the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, as secretary. 



The Research Defence Society has lately opened a 

 bureau and exhibition at 171 Piccadilly, opposite 

 Burlington House. The windows display a good col- 

 lection of pictures, photographs, charts, and lantern- 

 slides ; apparatus for anaesthetics ; germs in test- 

 tubes; specimens of tsetse-flies and mosquitoes; 

 books, pamphlets, and leaflets. They serve to remind 

 "the man in the street" of the immense importance 

 of experiments on animals to the welfare of mankind, 

 and the great saving of human and animal life and 

 health already achieved. Among the pictures is a 

 large engraving of Fildes's "The Doctor," presented 

 to the society by the artist himself. Leaflets are dis- 

 tributed outside. The bureau is in charge of a 

 young lady, who receives signatures and contribu- 

 tions, and enlists new members and associates. The 

 exhibition is quietly attractive to all passers-by. 



It is with regret that we have to record the death of 

 Mr. J. Rowland Ward, the well-known taxidermist, 

 whiih look place at his residence, Restmore, Bos- 

 combe, Hants, on Saturday, December 28, 1912. Mr. 

 Ward, who succeeded to the business started by his 

 father, Henry Ward, was, we believe, the first to 

 raise taxidermy to the rank of a fine art, and to 

 replace the old-fashioned "stuffing" process by model- 

 ling the form of the animal, and then covering the 

 " manikin " with the skin. And not only was he the 

 inventor of this method, but the work of his firm has 

 ever since maintained that high standard of excellence 

 which has rendered the name of Ward famous 

 throughout the world. The deceased gentleman was, 

 indeed, a born artist, possessing almost unrivalled 

 skill in modelling animals, and if his energies had 

 not been otherwise fully occupied there is little doubt 

 that he could have .attained eminence as a sculptor. 

 In addition to mounting individual animals or their 

 heads, Mr. Ward devoted special attention to big 

 groups of animals, the first of which was a "Combat 



NO. 2253, VOL. go] 



of Red Deer," shown at the London Internation.-il 

 Exhibition of 1871. For this and other exhibits of 

 the same nature, as well as for the excellence of his 

 work as a general taxidermist, Mr. Ward received a 

 number of gold medals and other awards. In addi- 

 tion to his business as a taxidermist, Mr. Ward pub- 

 lished numerous works on big game and sport. He 

 was, moreover, himself an author, and his " Records 

 of Big Game" and "Sportsman's Handbook," which 

 have passed through several editions, are invaluable 

 both to the sportsman and to the naturalist. Mr. 

 Ward leaves a widow, but no family. 



The death is announced, at ninety-one years of age, 

 of Dr. P. Redfern, formerly Regius professor of 

 anatomy and physiology at Queen's College, Belfast. 



Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, of Toronto, Canada, a member 

 of the council of the twelfth International Geological 

 Congress, to be held in Toronto in August next, is in 

 London for a short time, stopping at the Hotel Vic- 

 toria, Northumberland Avenue. He asks us to state 

 that while in London he will be glad to furnish in- 

 formation to anyone who purposes to attend the meet- 

 ing of the congress. 



On Monday, December 23, the millionth visitor to 

 the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, during 1912 

 passed the turnstile. This is a record attendance, and 

 bears forcible testimony to the appreciation by the 

 public of the improvements which have been effected 

 during the last few years in the gardens. The for- 

 tunate individual who completed the million was 

 awarded a free pass to the gardens for 1913. 



Mr. Edward Tver, well known as a telegraphic 

 engineer, and by his inventions in connection with 

 the system of block signalling on railways, died on 

 Christmas night in his eighty-third year. Mr. Tver 

 was a fellow of the Royal Astronojnical Society, and 

 also an associate (1861) of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, under its original charter, a member of 

 the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and a fellow of 

 the Royal Microscopical and Geographical Societies. 



The Commonwealth Government has entrusted 

 Prof. A. J. Ewart, professor of botany in the Univer- 

 sity of Melbourne, with the investigation of the plants 

 collected during the recent Northern Territory explor- 

 ing expedition, and has appointed Dr. A. Morrison, 

 formerly Government Botanist of West Australia, to 

 assist in the work. Dr. Morrison will reach Melbourne 

 shortly, and it is hoped that the material available 

 will be sufficient for the preparation of a flora of the 

 Northern Territory. 



We learn from The Times that M. Liard, rector of 

 the University of Paris, announced at a meeting of 

 the council of the University held on December 27 

 that the Marquise Arconati-Visconti has decided to 

 supplement her previous gift of 2o,oooL by a further 

 gift of 2o,oooZ. to be devoted "to the benefit of the 

 Faculties of Science and of Letters." It has been 

 decided to use the money for the erection of an Insti- 

 tute of Geography to bo built by the side of the 

 Oceanographical Institute, endowed by the Prince of 

 Monaco. 



