224 



NA TURE 



[July 4, 1907 



for as being due to the interaction of the two causes 

 which gave rise to the ellipsoidal figure and to the 

 eccentric position of the centre of gravity. The main 

 features of the existing division of the surface into 

 continental and oceanic regions can thus be traced 

 to the operation of simple dynamical laws. 



PRESENTATION OF THE FREEDOM OF THE 

 CITY OF LONDON TO LORD LISTER. 



IN honouring Lord Lister on June 28, the City of 

 London acknowledged the debt humanity owes to 

 the conscientious man of science. Lord Lister was 

 presented with the freedom of the City " in recogni- 

 tion of his eminence as a surgeon, and of the invalu- 

 able services rendered lo humanity by his discovery of 

 the antiseptic system of treatment in surgery, whereby 

 so great a progress in surgical science has been 

 achieved, so much suffering has been alleviated, and 

 so many valuable lives have been prolonged." 



The Lord Mayor attended in state, and among those 

 invited to be present were the President of the Royal 

 College of Physicians, the President of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons, Sir Henry Roscoe and Dr. 

 Charles J. Martin (representing the Lister Institute of 

 Preventive Medicine), Sir F. H. Lovell and Sir P. 

 Manson (representing the London School of Tropical 

 Medicine), Sir Norman Lockyer (representing the 

 British .Science Guild), Sir Victor Horsley, Prof. 

 Howard Marsh (University of Cambridge), Dr. L. W. 

 Darra Mair (representing the Chief Medical Officer 

 of the Local Government Board), Sir W. H. Broadbent, 

 Sir William Collins, Sir Frederick Treves, and 

 members of the medical staffs of several of the 

 London hospitals. 



Sir Joseph Dimsdale, the City Chamberlain, in admit- 

 ting Lord Lister to the freedom, remarked : — 



A century ago the Corporation of London paid her 

 tribute of honour to the great professions of which Lord 

 Lister is so bright an ornament. In 1803 the Freedom of 

 the City was presented to Dr. Jenner, whose name will 

 ever be associated with the discovery of vaccination, and 

 whose researches superseded the system of inoculation — at 

 that time so successfully and usefully employed to combat 

 the dread disease of small-pox by such men as Dr. Fother- 

 gill and Dr. Dimsdale. To-day we meet to do honour to 

 one whose life-long labours mark another epoch in the 

 history of medicine and surgery. During the last half- 

 century the strides made both in medicine and surgery 

 have been little short of marvellous. What was impossible 

 a few years back is now of daily and hourly occurrence. 

 The treatment of disease — the safety in operations — and 

 the careful and tender nursing of the patient are a few 

 of the many developments of our time, and throughout 

 this period Lord Lister has held a foremost place and has 

 been recognised as one of the greatest and most prominent 

 among surgeons. But it is not only as a great surgeon 

 he is known. He is equally a great man of science, and it 

 is by blending his antiseptic treatment with modern surgery 

 that he has made possible so much that has — until lately 

 — been impossible. He stands out as one who has been 

 instrumental in assuaging suffering, lessening disease, and, 

 under God's blessing, prolonging and saving numberless 

 lives. Few are permitted to see the full fruition of their 

 lofty aims and aspirations, but it is with sincere pleasure 

 we greet Lord Lister in this ancient Guildhall, and rejoice 

 to feel that he is able to enjoy the honours conferred upon 

 him by his Sovereign — to be the recipient of universal 

 expressions of esteem and admiration of his work from all 

 seats of learning ; while eulogiums from every quarter of 

 the globe proclaim the appreciation the world in general 

 feels for his life-long labours. It remains for posterity 

 fully to gauge and comprehend the magnitude of the legacy 

 he bequeaths to mankind. The City of London — and 

 through her the country — places, I venture to think, the 

 coping stone to-dav to the monument of his fame. The 

 citizens, in expressing their deep gratitude for his great 

 services to the human race, ask his acceptance of the 



NO, 1966, VOL. 76] 



highest honour it is in their power to bestow. But while 

 they fully recognise his great work, probably the trait 

 that touches the hearts of his fellow countrymen most is 

 his abnegation of self, and his humble-mindedness, which, 

 amid all his triumphs, recognises that it is under Divine 

 blessing he has achieved so much. Well might Lord 

 Lister in the autumn of his life take to hiinself the words 

 of Lord Byron : — 



No lengthen'd scroll, no praise-encumbered stone. 

 My epitaph shall be my name alone ; 

 If that with honour fail to crown my clay, 

 Oh ! may no other fame my deeds repay ; 

 That, only that, shall single out the spot, 

 By that remcmber'd, or with that forgot. 

 The name of Lister requires no embellishment, nor is the 

 sculptor's art needed to perpetuate it in posterity. So 

 long as humanity exists, so long as kind and sympathetic 

 hearts beat in the breasts of mankind, so long as the 

 human race is capable of estimating the worth and value 

 of the truly great and good, so long will the name of 

 Lister live, and the memory of him who bears it remain 

 enshrined and held in affectionate reverence by succeeding 

 generations. 



Lord Lister in reply said : — 



I thank you. Sir Joseph Dimsdale, froin the bottom oj 

 my heart for your overpoweringly kind words. The worf 

 which it has been my great privilege to be engaged in has 

 been its own all-sufiicient reward. Perhaps I need not 

 say that I value in the highest degree this, the greatest 

 civic distinction in the world. If it were possible to 

 enhance the honour you have conferred on me to-day this 

 has been done by the extraordinary consideration shown 

 by you, my Lord Mayor, and your Court for my personal 

 convenience. Had it not been for this your extreme kind- 

 ness it would have been impossible for me in my very 

 infirm state of health to have received your gift here in 

 this historic building. 



The i8-carat gold casket in which the freedom was 



contained bears the following inscription : — 



Presented by 



The Corporation of the City of London. 



with the Freedom of the Citv, 



to the Right Honourable Lord Lister, CM^, M.D., F.R.S., 



D.C.L., etc., 



in -recognition of his eminence as a Surgeon and of the 



invaluable services rendered to humanity by his discovery 



of the Antiseptic System of Treatinent in Surgery. 



Guildhall, E.C., June 28, 1907. 



The end panels are decorated with emblems relating 

 to Lord Lister's career, and on the curve of the base a 

 series of figures symbolising scientific research are 

 embossed. 



We welcome this well-deserved honour to science, 

 and congratulate Lord Lister upon the latest distinc- 

 tion conferred ujion him. Men of science are gratified 

 that the Court of Common Council has shown in such 

 an appropriate way its appreciation of the value of 

 scientific research to the communitv. 



THE EXTENSION OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



ON June 27 the King laid the foundation-stone of 

 the new buildings forming an extension of the 

 British Museum. .-X distinguished company invited 

 to attend the ceremony included Lord Ravleigh, Pre- 

 sident of the Roval Society, Lord .Avebury, Lord 

 Kelvin, Sir John Evans, Sir Henry Howorth, Prof. 

 E. Ray Larikester, Sir Norman Lockyer, and Sir 

 Williain Ramsay. The .\rchbishop of Canterbury, as 

 one of the three principal trustees, in his address to the 

 King, detailed the circumstances which had made the 

 extension possible. The origin of the scheme for the 

 extension was described in the address as follows : — 

 Your Majesty has graciously conferred on the trustees 

 of the British Museum a great honour in being present 

 here this morning to lay the foundation-stone of this, the 



ll 



