434 
British government to investigate grouse dis- 
ease, and the volume on “Grouse in Health 
and Disease” which he published records 
many observations regarding the pathology of 
birds. He is a fellow of the Royal Society. 
Dr. Shipley’s writings on many branches of 
zoology and other subjects, historical, archi- 
tectural and biographical, are too numerous for 
mention. They include several standard text- 
books of zoology. The study of parasitieal ani- 
mals is his especial hobby. Since the com- 
mencement of the war he has written two 
books of extraordinary interest and humor, on 
a subject which, if less skilfully handled, 
would ibe generally regarded as repulsive—lice, 
bugs, fleas and flies—little animals which in 
all former wars have contributed to the fail- 
ure of armies in almost as large a measure as 
swords or guns. But for recent knowledge of 
their habits the havoe which they have worked 
in this war, already sufficiently serious, might 
have been the determining factor. “ The 
Minor Horrors of War” and “More Minor 
Horrors” are books which may be read with 
pleasure by the least scientifically inclined of 
men and women. 
As master of Christ’s College, Dr. Shipley 
inhabits a “lodge” which the foundress, the 
Lady Margaret, mother of Henry VII., once 
occupied. The lodge, like all similar houses, 
had been altered to suit the taste of each suc- 
ceeding age. The new master immediately 
after his election devoted much money and 
antiquarian knowledge to its restoration to 
something like its original condition. Soon 
after the commencement of the war he turned 
the house into a convalescent home for 
wounded officers, several hundreds _of whom 
have since lived with him. In other forms of 
war work he has also been very active, espe- 
cially in the collection of clothes for Belgian 
refugees, and the maintenance and education 
of Serbian boys, for which the members of the 
university, with great generosity, made them- 
selves responsible. tot 
SIR HENRY 3 MIBRS 
Sir Henry Miers was’ born i an South Amer- 
ica, where his father wasidn engineer (as his 
grandfather had been before. him), but was 
SCIENCE 
[N. 8. Vou. XLVIII. No. 1244 
brought to England at the age of two. One of 
his great-grandfathers was Francis Place, the 
self-educated politician who was a leader in the 
reforms of 1824-1841. 
He was educated at a private school near 
Oxford, where among his schoolfellows were 
the late Lord Parker, of Waddington, and 
George Macmillan, whose firm is well known 
in the United States. Thence he went with a 
scholarship to Eton, and was there for five 
years. The course at Eton was almost purely 
classical, but Miers did a considerable amount 
of science and mathematics out of hours, win- 
ning school prizes in these subjects among 
others. He also won the gold medal in geog- 
raphy offered at that time by the geographical 
society for competition among public schools; 
among the honorably mentioned on that oc- 
casion was his schoolfellow Cecil Spring-Rice, 
afterwards ambassador to the United States. 
Lord Curzon was also one of his exact con- 
temporaries at Eton. 
In 1877 he went with a classical scholarship 
to Trinity College, Oxford, and. read double 
(classics and mathematics) for the first degree 
examination, and double (mathematics and 
physics) for the final examination. But he 
left Oxford before the final examination in the 
science school in order to prepare for a position 
which was about to be established in the min- 
eral department of the British Museum. His 
interest in mineralogy had been stimulated at 
Oxford by Professor Story-Maskelyne, whose 
lectures he attended. The professor was then 
a member of parliament, and came up from 
London to lecture to Miers, who was for a 
time his only pupil. He also worked at the 
subject in the long vacation at Cambridge 
and in other vacations at the British Museum. 
At the British Museum he was a first-class 
assistant for twelve years, and during that 
period published about fifty scientific papers. 
His teaching experience also began in London, 
for he was invited by Professor Armstrong to 
start the teaching of crystallography at the 
neighboring Central Technical College (which 
has now been absorbed in the Imperial College 
of Science and Technology). This continued 
for about nine years, when he was succeeded 
