58 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1307 



ful, buoyant, resilient, as if, like the beloved 

 of the gods, he was predestined to die young. 

 Tet the supreme test was nobly borne, and 

 to many of his pupils and colleagues, who see 

 in the death of this great, benignant phys- 

 ician, the loss of their best friend, the ex- 

 pressions of ancient belief will not seem un- 

 availing: Requiem wternam dona ei, Domine, 

 ef lux perpetua luceat ei. 



F. H. Gaerison 

 Army Medical Museum 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



A BOTANIC SCHOOL IN REGENT'S PARK 



The report of the committee appointed last 

 April by Lord Ernie, the former president 

 of the British Board of Agriculture, to con- 

 sider what steps should be taken to improve 

 the usefulness of the Royal Botanic Society 

 in London, is now published and an abstract 

 is given in the London Times. The members 

 of the committee, all of whom sign the report, 

 were: Lieutenant-Colonel Sir David Prain, 

 F.E.S., director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Kew (chairman) ; Sir W. H. Dunn ; Surgeon- 

 General Sir A. Keogh, Imperial College of 

 Science and Technology ; Sir Malcolm Morris ; 

 Major R. C. Carr;Mr. Morton Evans, joint 

 secretary of the Office of Woods; Mr. H. J. 

 Greenwood, L.C.C.; and Professor F. W. 

 Keeble, F.R.S., Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries and Royal Horticultural Society; 

 with Mr. G. C. Grough, B.Sc, secretary. 



The society was incorporated in 1839, and 

 was granted a lease of 18 acres in Regent's 

 Park vmtil 1870. This lease was renewed by 

 the Commissioners of Woods and Forests in 

 1870, and in 1901 at an increased rental. The 

 present lease terminates in 1932. 



The committee have formed the opinion 

 that the Royal Botanic Society could be made 

 more useful both from the scientific and edu- 

 cational point of view by the establishment 

 of: (1) A school of economic botany, at which 

 a knowledge of the economic plants and their 

 products including those of tropical regions, 

 might be obtained; (2) an institute which 

 might be made a center for research, more 

 especially in plant physiology where the living 



plant is essential; (3) a center for teaching 

 in horticultiu'e, the students of which could 

 receive their necessary training in pure 

 science at existing London colleges; (4) 

 courses in school gardening, at times suitable 

 for teachers in elementary, continuation, and 

 other schools. In addition, the committee 

 consider that the gardens might extend their 

 present utility as a center from which colleges 

 and botany schools could be supplied with 

 material for teaching and research, and in 

 which students could make use of the existing 

 facilities for the study of systematic botany. 



In an appendix the committee deal with the 

 financial side of the scheme. They consider 

 that the suggestions need not entail, in their 

 initial stages, any very great expenditure. 

 Buildings should be of a temporary nature 

 and of not more than two stories, and might 

 be erected near the present greenhouses. 

 After giving details of the laboratories and 

 rooms required, the committee suggest that 

 the staff should consist of the following: 



A director at a salary of £800 to £1,000, able 

 to cooperate with the teachers of botany in 

 London, and with a knowledge of economic 

 problems or of vegetable physiology. An as- 

 sistant director, salary £500 to £700, to be 

 appointed after the director. His knowledge 

 should supplement that of the director — e. g., 

 if the former be an economic botanist the 

 latter should be a physiological botanist. An 

 assistant, salary £250 to £400, to act as curator 

 of the museum and librarian, with a general 

 knowledge of plant diseases. At least one of 

 the officers should have a practical knowledge 

 of the tropics, tropical plants, and their 

 products. 



The committee estimate the total cost of 

 the staff, with attendants, etc., at £3,000 to 

 £3,500 per annum; the cost of the buildings, 

 £4,000; and the cost of equipment, including 

 books, plants, etc., £500. 



THE ATTITUDE OF GERMAN PHYSICIANS 

 TOWARDS INHUMAN ACTION 



It will be remembered that a protest signed 

 by M. Calmette and four other members of 

 scientific organizations who had remained at 

 Lille during the occupation by the Germans, 



