i8 



NA TURE 



[December i 6, iq: 



Physicians appealed to Moure in the same way as did 

 those of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He filled all the 

 usual posts with unfailing punctuality, was Harveian 

 Librarian; and served in the office of president from 1918 

 to 1921. He was also the representative of the College 

 at the General Medical Council. He had an intimate 

 knowledge of the needs of medical education, and he 

 took a leading part in that recasting of the medical 

 curriculum which began in 1886 and is still in progress. 

 Moore's love of books and his knowledge of their 



contents were utilised by the Royal Medical and 

 Chirurgical Society, where he filled the post of honorary 

 librarian for many years. When the society was 

 merged in the present Royal Society of Medicine, Moore, 

 in conjunction with Mr. Stephen Paget, wrote the 

 chronicles of the society from 1805 to 1905, with some 

 account of the presidents. 



In 1919 Moore was created a baronet. He was twice 

 married, and is succeeded by his surviving son, Alan 

 I lilarv. 



Current Topics and Events. 



While the rest of the world has been getting used 

 to filling up the forms required by Customs authorities, 

 and to awaiting with patience the delays involved in 

 the examination by Customs laboratories of imported 

 products that may prove to be dutiable, Great Britain 

 has forgotten the very existence of such things, and 

 their reintroduction, as a consequence of the Safe- 

 guarding of Industries Act, is regarded as little less 

 than a revolutionary innovation by importers and then 

 spokesmen in the House of Commons. It is clear 

 from the debate which took place on Sir John Simon's 

 amendment to the motion for an address in reply to 

 the King's Speech, regretting the absence of any 

 reference to the repeal of this Act, that opposition to 

 the Act arises largely from its administration. Almost 

 every speaker admitted the necessity of legislation to 

 prevent the recurrence of the famine in magnetos, 

 drugs, optical glass, dyes, and other essential com- 

 modities, which occurred in this country on the out- 

 break of war, but those who wished the Act repealed 

 failed to mention a scheme by which this end could 

 be achieved, probably because any attempt to do so 

 would split up the apparently solid phalanx of 

 opposition. To those who have the national welfare 

 in mind, the troubles of Sir John Simon's trader, 

 who had a consignment of potassium permanganate 

 held up for two months by the Customs, will make 

 slight appeal, and they would cheerfully see a few- 

 traders, who have no direct interest in industry and 

 merely buy and sell, sacrificed, if by that means they 

 could ensure the establishment in this country of 

 highly technical industries in which skilled craftsmen 

 and technical experts could be employed and the 

 safety of the country in war and in peace assured. 

 The difficulties which the operation of the Act places 

 in the way of the importation of chemicals and in- 

 struments required by research workers, naturally 

 evoke more sympathy than those of traders ; and it 

 is satisfactory that the Government was able to pro- 

 mise a joint inquiry by the Department of Scientifii 

 and Industrial Research and the Board of Trade into 

 the progress actually made in the industries with 

 which the Act is concerned. In the course of that 

 inquiry these difficulties will no doubt be fully ex- 

 plored and means of dealing with them evolved. 



The needs of men of science in Russia have been 

 referred to on several occasions in our columns, and 

 we have suggested that the different groups of 

 scientific and technical societies should concern 



NO. 27/2, VOL. I IO] 



themselves with groups of workers in their own 

 departments. This has, we believe, been done in 

 connexion with the Committee for the Relief of 

 Russian Intellectuals, the president of which is Sir 

 Paul Vinogradoff. There is an Engineers' Section 

 Sub-Committee, with Sir Robert Hadfield as president, 

 and this sub-committee has just made an appeal on 

 behalf of Russian engineers and their families, who, 

 not alone in the famine areas but throughout Russia, 

 are undergoing terrible suffering and distress. If 

 British engineers will help, many lives can be saved 

 and the human energy and knowledge necessary for 

 the reconstruction of Russia can be retained. Assist- 

 ance is required for the provision of food and clothing. 

 Food parcels may be sent to particular individuals, 

 or names and addresses can be supplied to donors 

 who prefer to send parcels direct. Remittances 

 should be sent to the honorary treasurer, Mr. R. C. 

 Griffith, 8 Victoria Avenue, Bishopsgate, London, 

 E.C.2, who will be glad to give any particulars 

 desired. 



A scientific novelties exhibition will be held at 

 King's College, Strand, W.C. (by kind permission of the 

 College delegacy), from December 28 to January 10, 

 in support of the Hospitals of London Combined 

 Appeal. Members of the scientific staffs of the 

 various colleges and schools of the University of 

 London, as well as of universitv institutions having 

 recognised teachers, are assisting with exhibits or 

 demonstrations, and short lectures with experi- 

 mental or lantern illustrations will be given by Profs. 

 Bairstow, Sir William Bragg, Cheshire, Winifred 

 Cullis, Flinders Petrie, Garwood, Gordon, Macgregor- 

 Morris, Watts, Wilson, and many others. The 

 exhibition will not be merely a display of objects of 

 interest, but of the character of a conversazione, in 

 which experiments and demonstrations will be going 

 on continuously. It will thus be attractive to both 

 old and young, and we hope it will bring a substantial 

 sum into the fund for which it is being organised. 



The issue of La 'Nature for November 18 contains 

 a summary of the recent International Congress on 

 Combustible Liquids held in Paris under the auspices 

 of the French Society of Chemical Industry. Prior 

 to the opening of the congress, an exhibition was 

 organised in which practically every phase of the 

 petroleum and allied industries received attention. 

 The several stages in the production and refining of 

 crude oil were amply illustrated by an excellent 



