932 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 311. 



red from the formation of polytellurids. Its 

 density was obtained by the Dumas method, 

 and by rapid worliing the decomposition was 

 so slight as to have no appreciable effect upon 

 the result. The value found was 65.1 which 

 corresponds to the formula H^Te. From this 

 the molecular weight would be 130.2. These 

 properties of hydrogen tellurid correspond to 

 the position of tellurium in the sulfur-selenium 

 group, while the high molecular weight agrees 

 well in confirming the best atomic weight de- 

 termination of tellurium, which places it above 

 and not below that of iodin. 



In connection with the proposed formation 

 of a new ' Society of Chemical Industry of Vic- 

 toria,' a correspondent of the Chemical News 

 takes exception to the term ' English Society ' 

 by the Honorable Secretary of the Victoria So- 

 ciety as applied to the Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry, in the following language: "Our 

 Society is not, I think, an ' English ' Society 

 merely ; it is not merely a British Society ; it 

 is an Anglo-American Society. Its President 

 of last session was an American, and I believe we 

 are proud of both these facts. * * * It seems 

 strange that Mr. Gepps in his circular should 

 omit our most prosperous and rising section, 

 next to that of London, viz., the New York 

 Section of the Society of Chemical Industry. 

 He probably would not have made the omis- 

 sion, however, had he been present at our an- 

 nual general meeting this summer, and wit- 

 nessed the enthusiastic reception accorded to 

 our American President, and have heard his 

 address, and especially his speech at the annual 

 dinner of the Society. If there is one thing we 

 of the Society of Chemical Industry are more 

 proud of than another, it is of the fact that in 

 the Society and its journal the hands of British 

 and American technical chemists are united — 

 spite of the broad Atlantic — in a brotherly 

 grip." To all of which we say Amen. 



J. L. H. 



JESSE WILLIAM LAZEAR. 

 At a meeting of the Johns Hopkins Hospital 

 Medical Society on October 16th, Dr. W. S. 

 Thayer, referring to the recent death from yel- 

 low fever of Dr. Jesse William Lazear, ad- 

 dressed the Society as follows : Before we pro- 



ceed with the program this evening, I should 

 like to say a few words about our dear friend 

 Lazear, whose sad death at Quemados, Cuba, 

 on September 25th, is so fresh in our minds. 

 Lazear was born just outside of Baltimore 

 thirty-four years ago. He graduated at the 

 Academic Department of the Johns Hopkins 

 University in 1889, and three years later ob- 

 tained the degree of M.D. from Columbia Uni- 

 versity, New York. After this he was an in- 

 terne in the Bellevue Hospital for two years. 

 After spending the greater part of the year in 

 studying abroad, particularly in Paris, he re- 

 turned in 1895 and became one of the medical 

 staff of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. In the 

 summer of 1896, Dr. Lazear was married and 

 began the practice of medicine in Baltimore. 

 At the same time, however, he was an assistant 

 in clinical microscopy in the University, and in 

 the laryngological department in the Hospital 

 dispensary. Last winter he obtained an ap- 

 pointment as assistant surgeon in the army with 

 special laboratory duties, and was stationed in 

 Havana. There he soon became interested in 

 the study of yellow fever, and for several 

 months he had been one of the commission ap- 

 pointed by the Surgeon General, for the study 

 of this disease. He had been constantly ex- 

 posed to infection, and finally, in the course of 

 his duty, contracted his fatal illness. 



Dr. Lazear was a man of few words but keen 

 perception. He was an extremely careful and 

 thorough worker. He kept his own counsel, 

 asked few questions and little help of his asso- 

 ciates, but he was a man who, when he started 

 an undertaking, had the ability and enthusiasm 

 to keep quietly at work until he accomplished 

 his end. It was through his excellent work 

 that we were able several years ago to make 

 our first positive intra vitam diagnosis of septi- 

 csemja due to the diplococcus of Neisser. His 

 valuable studies upon the internal structure of 

 the malarial parasite, which I had the pleasure 

 of bringing before this Society last winter, are 

 remembered by all. 



Personally, he was an exceptionally simple, 

 high-minded and lovable man. He could not 

 have failed to find in a short time a public po- 

 sition in which his unusual merits would have 

 become more generally known. 



