4i8 



NATURE 



[August 22, 1907 



I 



The death, from heart failure, of Sir William Robert- 

 ■son Copland took place at Glasgow on Monday last. 

 Sir William Copland made a special study of drainage 

 and of water supply, and took great interest in promoting 

 technical and university education, being chairman of the 

 governing body of the Glasgow and West of Scotland 

 Technical College, and a member of the Glasgow Uni- 

 versity Court. He was knighted last year. 



Dr. Willi.am Thomson, who died at Philadelphia on 

 August 3 at the age of seventy-four, had not only written 

 largely on medical and surgical subjects, but had intro- 

 duced several reforms in field service. At the battle of 

 Antietam, in the American Civil War, he abandoned the 

 old practice of bringing all the wounded into one hospital, 

 and improvised a number of smaller hospitals in various 

 parts of the field. The success of this innovation led to 

 its adoption during the rest of the war, and later in the 

 Franco-German War. Dr. Thomson will be further re- 

 membered for adopting the local application of carbolic 

 acid as a disinfectant in the treatment of wounds, and 

 for the introduction, in connection with the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad, of the testing of engine-drivers for colour- 

 blindness. 



A Reuter telegram stales that the instruments of the 

 chief seismographical station at Hamburg registered 

 several earthquake shocks in the afternoon of Saturday 

 last. Slight shocks were recorded at about 1.22 p.m. and 

 shortly after 2 p.m., while at 6.40 p.m. the instruments 

 began to record a series of distant shocks of medium 

 strength, which lasted nearly two hours. The disturbance 

 reached its height shortly before 7 p.m., and ceased at 

 about 8.45 p.m. It is estimated that the earthquake 

 ■occurred at a spot Sooo kilometres south-east of Ham- 

 tiurg ; a seismic shock was also recorded at Grenoble at 

 5h. 43m. 40s. on the same day. 



It is announced in Science that the yearly sum of 5000 

 •dollars has been voted by the Minnesota Legislature 

 towards the maintenance of a Pasteur institute at 

 Minneapolis. 



A CIRCLXAR letter has been distributed by the president 

 and general secretaries of the second International Con- 

 gress on School Hygiene concerning the important new 

 departure made by the congress in the matter of school 

 ■hygiene. Arising out of the question of whether it would 

 not be advisable to establish a bureau, with a permanent 

 staff, library and museum, &c., in some central but neutral 

 spot, such as a Swiss or Dutch town, it was decided that 

 It would probably lead to greater progress if such bureau 

 was not localised, but if each country had its own centre 

 for the diffusion of knowledge, and to act as a clearing- 

 house in the matter of school hygiene, statistics, laws, 

 and regulations. Finally, to supervise in scientific matters 

 and generally to do all that is possible at all times or 

 places to forward the human interests which are bound 

 up in the special lines of knowledge included in school 

 hygiene, the International Committee has formed a small 

 council, consisting of the president of the past congress, 

 the president of the one lately held, the president of the 

 next congress, and nine other members to be elected, 

 which will have all the powers of an ordinary committee. 

 The following questions will come under the consider- 

 ation of the counL'il almost immediately : — How medical 

 inspection of schools can best be carried out with the 

 maximum of efliciency and minimum of cost ; how far the 

 laws of health can best be imparted to the coming gener- 

 ation, so that later they will know how to care for them- 

 NO. 1973, VOL. 76] 



selves and those dependent on them ; the best systems or 

 methods of physical training for both sexes at various 

 ages ; and the feeding of children requiring proper nutri- 

 tion, so that it shall be done without developing pauperism 

 and with regard to those upon whom the cost falls. 



In reply to an inquiry put to him in the House of 

 Commons as to whether, in view of the work already 

 accomplished by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 

 in combating tropical diseases, he could arrange for an 

 increased grant to be made in order that the work might 

 be further extended, the Under Secretary for the Colonies 

 said that a further grant will be made, of which the 

 Secretary of State will be able to specify the amount after 

 consultation with the Treasury. 



The Keith prize (consisting of a gold medal and 50^.) 

 has been awarded by the council of the Royal Society, 

 Edinburgh, to Ur. T. H. Bryce for his two papers on 

 " The Histology of the Blood of the Larvie of Lcpidosiren 

 paradoxa," published in the Transactions of the society. 



The seventh International Physiological Congress met 

 in Heidelberg last week, with Prof. Kossel as president. 

 .^bout 300 members were present, and 200 communications 

 were made in Ihc four sections into which the congress 

 was divided. .\l the opening meeting Prof. Kronccker 

 paid a glowing tribute to the late Sir Michael Foster. 

 Prof. Dastre, of Paris, gave a short biography of the late 

 Sir J. Burdon-Sandeison, while Prof. Sherrington spoke' 

 of the loss sustained by the congress through the deaths 

 of Prof. Errera, of Brussels, and Prof. A. Herzen, of 

 Lausanne. By order of Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden 

 each member ol the congress was given a bronze medal 

 in memory of the meeting. The medal bears on one side 

 an impress of " Helmholtz — mdccclviii-.mdccclxxi." 



The French Congress of Medicine will be held in Paris 

 under the presidency of Prof. Debove from October 14 

 to 16. It is proposed to hold discussions on, among other 

 subjects, the question as to the origin of pulmonary 

 tuberculosis ; acid-resistant bacilli ; the therapeutic action 

 of radium ; ionic medication ; the use of coilargol ; the 

 therapeutic value of tuberculin ; and the serumtherapy of 

 dysentery and cutaneous sporotrichoses. 



The third International Sanitary Convention is to be 

 held in the city of Mexico from December 2 to 7 next. 

 Each delegate attending is expected to bring a paper 

 relating to the nation represented by him, with a report 

 on the existence of any transmissible diseases— especially 

 bubonic plague, yellow fever, cholera, malaria, bcri-beri, 

 and trachoma — that may prevail within its boundaries. 

 .Among the questions to be discussed are the transmission 

 of yellow fever, the means to be used in combating the 

 Stcgomyia fasciala, tuberculosis, and various adminis- 

 trative measures. 



The eighteenth annual general meeting of the Institu- 

 tion of Mining Engineers will take place in the Firth 

 Hall of the University of Sheffield on September 4, when 

 the following papers will be read, or taken as read : — 

 The sinking of Bentley Colliery, by Messrs. J. W. Fryar 

 ;md Robert Clive ; roof-weights in mines, by Mr. H. T. 

 Foster; and deep boring at Barlow, near Selby, by Mr. 

 H. St. John Durnfcrd. A number of visits to collieries, 

 works, &c., have been arranged. 



The recent opening of the medical academy at Diissel- 

 dorf was, according lo the Berlin correspondent of the 

 Lancet, an event of some importance, and was attended 

 with considerable display. The academy and that at 



