Decembeh 19, 190'J.J 



SCIENCE. 



917 



investigation in tlie field of his main object 

 of study, and then submit the dissertation 

 which embodied the results of his research. 

 One way of bringing about reform in this 

 direction would be to make individual re- 

 search an indispensable condition of pro- 

 ceeding to degrees higher than the B.A. 

 The first steps in the direction of true re- 

 form must be taken by the universities in 

 the relaxation to some extent of the estab- 

 lished methods and subjects of their exam- 

 inations, which had been carried down 

 with but little change from the Middle 

 Ages. It was some satisfaction to know 

 that a new section of the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science had 

 been formed for the consideration and dis- 

 cussion in detail of the reforms which were 

 needed in the educational methods of the 

 •country. In the meanwhile much might 

 be done provisionally by their Fellows, in 

 their individual capacity, by stimulating 

 and directing wisely the increased atten- 

 tion which was now being given to science 

 in all departments of life, and especially 

 in fostering and extending the many tech- 

 nical colleges and institutions which were 

 being established in all parts of the coun- 

 try. The fellows would view with no little 

 satisfaction the fact that the King had 

 been pleased to recognize the importance 

 of science being represented on the highest 

 judicial body in the kingdom by the ap- 

 pointment of two of their fellows as privy 

 councillors. 



The Copley medal was awarded to Lord 

 Lister in recognition of the value of his 

 physiological and pathological researches 

 in regard to their influence on the modern 

 practice of surgery. When in 1880 a Royal 

 medal was awarded to him, it was acknowl- 

 edged that his researches had 'not only re- 

 formed the whole art of surgery, but given 

 a new impulse to medical science generally. ' 

 The experience of another twenty years had 



written out that judgment in still larger 

 letters. Lister's researches had made the 

 world a wholly different world from what 

 it was before. The Rumford medal was 

 given to the Hon. Charles Algernon Parsons 

 for his success in the application of the 

 steam turbine to industrial purposes, and 

 for its recent extension to navigation. The 

 work of Mr. Parsons was of a kind which 

 specially came under the terms and con- 

 ditions of the Rumford medal, as consisting 

 'of new inventions and contrivances by 

 which the generation and preservation and 

 management of heat and of light may be 

 facilitated' and as 'shall tend most to the 

 good of mankind.' By his invention and 

 perfection of the steam turbine he had not 

 only provided a prime mover of exceptional 

 efficiency, working at a high speed vnthout 

 vibration, but had taken a step forward, 

 which made an epoch in the history of the 

 application of steam to industry, and which 

 was probably the greatest since the time 

 of Watt. A Royal medal was awarded to 

 Professor Horace Lamb for his investiga- 

 tions in mathematical physics. Professor 

 Lamb had been conspicuous during the last 

 twenty years by the extent and value of 

 his contributions to mathematical physics. 

 His writings had been distinguished by 

 clearness, precision, and perfection of form. 

 The other Royal medal was conferred upon 

 Professor Edward Albert Schafer for his 

 researches into the functions and minute 

 structure of the central nervous system, 

 especially with regard to the motor and 

 sensory functions of the cortex of the brain. 

 The Davy medal was awarded to Professor 

 Svante August Arrhenius for his applica- 

 tion of the theory of dissociation to the ex- 

 planation of chemical change. It was not 

 easy to over-estimate the importance of the 

 service rendered to chemistry by Professor 

 Svante Arrhenius through the publication 

 of his memoir, presented to the Swedish 



