Januaet 11, 1907] 



SCIJUNCE 



79 



template the necessity for finding accommoda- 

 tion elsewhere. At it appeared from corre- 

 spondence and an interview with the secretary 

 for Scotland that the government had defi- 

 nitely decided to allot the whole of the Royal 

 Institution for the purposes of art, the council 

 resolved, with great reluctance, to accept the 

 necessity for removal, and to do its best to 

 secure adequate reinstatement. An accommo- 

 dation committee was, therefore, appointed 

 by the society to advise the secretary for Scot- 

 land regarding sites and buildings suitable for 

 new premises for the society with the result 

 that the committee unanimously recommended 

 the building at present occupied by the Edin- 

 burgh Life Insurance Office, Nos. 22 and 24 

 George Street. At an interview on November 

 22 Mr. Sinclair offered, subject to the consent 

 of Parliament, to purchase and adapt the 

 George Street building on certain conditions, 

 and in addition to give a free grant for the 

 scientific purposes of the society. The condi- 

 tions proposed were approved by the represen- 

 tatives of the society present as being, in the 

 circumstances, an equitable settlement of the 

 claims of the society. The arrangements are 

 that a sum of £25,000 will be used for the 

 purchase of a building, and £3,000 to cover 

 the expenses of fitting up, redecorating the 

 new premises, and transferring the library and 

 other effects of the society from the Royal 

 Institution. The treasury will also give the 

 society a grant of not more than £600 a year. 

 At the last monthly general meeting of the 

 Zoological Society, of London, Mr. Howard 

 Saunders, F.L.S., vice-president, in the chair, 

 103 candidates were elected fellows. The re- 

 port of the council for November was read by 

 the secretary, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, 

 r.R.S. This stated that 173 additions had 

 been made to the society's menagerie during 

 that month — viz., 105 acquired by presenta- 

 tion, 23 by purchase, 35 received on deposit, 

 three received in exchange, and seven born in 

 the gardens. Amongst these special attention 

 was directed to an adult male mandrill {Papio 

 maimou), the first full-sized example of this 

 species exhibited in the gardens, deposited on 

 November 30; to a young female hippopota- 

 mus {Hippopotamus ampTiihius) from the 



Niger, purchased on November 1 ; to a Persian 

 stag (Cervus maral), presented by Mr. Carl 

 Hagenbeek on November 13; to a Kashmir 

 stag (Cervus cashmiriensis) , presented by the 

 Duke of Bedford on November 22; and to a 

 collection of 47 birds containing, amongst 

 other interesting specimens, a green toucan 

 (Aulacorhamphtis sulcatus), new to the col- 

 lection, and a sun bittern {Eurypyga, helias) 

 from Venezuela, presented by Captain Albert 

 Pam, F.Z.S., on November 27. The report 

 further stated that the number of visitors to 

 the society's gardens during the month of No- 

 vember had been 22,025. The total number of 

 visitors to the gardens during the year 

 amounted to 881,018, showing an increase of 

 185,055 as compared with the corresponding 

 period of the previous year. 



We learn from The British Medical Journal 

 that in addition to the Johnston Laboratories, 

 the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine is 

 possessed of Research Laboratories at Run- 

 corn, established some two years ago, because 

 the Johnston Laboratories, although perfect 

 for the purposes for which they were built, did 

 not, being situated in a city, lend themselves 

 well to researches demanding the keeping of a 

 large number of animals, both great and smaU. 

 Crofton Lodge at Runcorn, some sixteen miles 

 distant, was therefore taken, some of its rooms 

 converted into research rooms and ample 

 stabling and pasture for all sorts of animals 

 secured on a small adjoining farm. For the 

 first year the chief energies of the newly- 

 founded laboratories were devoted to the study 

 of various forms of trypanosomiasis, hut since 

 September, 1905, the work has been mainly 

 concerned with the spirochsetes of relapsing 

 fever. Research work proper is, however, only 

 part of the function of these laboratories, 

 another being the important task of keeping 

 the Johnston Laboratories supplied with liv- 

 ing parasites, for the instruction of the stu- 

 dents of the School of Tropical Medicine. To 

 this end, therefore, the trypanosomes of 

 dourine, mal de Caderas, nagana, Gambian 

 horse sickness and ' sleeping sickness ' are kept 

 constantly going in animals. Similarly, the 

 spirochsetes of 'relapsing fever,' and of mice 

 {Spirochceta laverani), of 'African tick- 



