322 
WE have received from W. B. Saunders, 
Philadelphia, a bulky volume by Drs. George M. 
Gould and Walter L. Pyle, entitled ‘‘ Anom-_ 
alies and Curiosities of Medicine: Being an 
encyclopedic collection of rare and extraordi- 
nary cases, and of the most striking instances of 
abnormality in all branches of medicine and 
surgery, derived from an exhaustive research 
of medical literature from its origin to the 
present day, abstracted, classified, annotated 
and indexed.’’ We should scarcely suppose 
that the compilation of this volume would 
repay the labors of the compilers and the 
costs of publication. A miscellany like this 
can scarcely be regarded as a contribution, 
such as Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire made, to- 
ward an explanation of the formation of 
monstrosities in its relation to zoological the- 
ory. Still the study of variations is of the ut- 
most importance for zoology, and extreme 
cases of human abnormality may prove useful 
to the student of the theory of evolution. The 
cases given in the work are treated critically, 
full references being given and a fairly conserv- 
ative attitude being adopted. But one modern 
instance is worth more than many old saws, 
and it is rather a contribution to folk-lore than 
to medicine to relate stories, qualified as incred- 
ible, such as that of Countess Margaret and her 
365 infants. 
THE fifty-eighth anniversary meeting of the 
Fellows of the Royal Botanic Society was held 
on August 10th, in the Society’s gardens at 
Regent’s Park, Mr. C. Brinsley Marlay presid- 
According to the report in the London 
Times six new Fellows were elected and eleven 
candidates were nominated for election at the 
next meeting after the vacation. The annual 
report of the Council to the Fellows stated, 
among other things, that tentative arrange- 
ments had recently been made for taking 
visitors round the gardens by members of the 
staff to point out objects of special interest. 
Free tickets had been granted during the year 
to about 800 students. About 50,000 specimens 
of plants had been given for educational pur- 
poses. The Council had decided to open a 
school of practical gardening and to hold ex- 
aminations and grant certificates for gardeners, 
ing. 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. VI. No. 139. 
The new school had already been officially 
recognized by the Technical Education Board, 
which was sending pupils to attend its classes 
and had voted an annual grant of £100 to the 
Botanic Society in aid of the scheme. The 
number of Fellows on the books had risen from 
1,700 in 1887 to 2,000 in 1897. The report 
having been presented, a discussion followed 
in which Sir Blundell Maple, M. P., proposed 
that the Society should build in the gardens a 
club-house to which the Fellows could have 
access. He volunteered to lend the Society a 
sum of £3,000 for this purpose, the money to 
be repaid by easy instalments. He anticipated 
that such a club would be a large source of in- 
come to the Society, and he added that if it 
should eventually prove to be a loss the loss 
should be his. Eventually the report was 
adopted unanimously. The chairman an- 
nounced that the promise of a new lease of the 
gardens, to commence on the termination of 
the present one, had been definitely given by 
her Majesty’s Commissioners of Woods and 
Forests for a fresh term of 31 years, and that 
the Society’s outlook was now most promising. 
THE research scholars of the British Medical 
Association (the scholarships being of the value 
of $750 each) have handed in their reports. 
Dr. J. B. Leathes has been engaged in a re- 
search into the nature of mucin-like proteids 
contained in ovarian cysts. Dr. J. 8. R. Rus- 
sell has been studying the tracts of the medulla 
oblongata and the cervical nerves. Dr. Swale 
Vincent has been studying the physiology of 
the suprarenal capsules. 
ACCORDING to the British Medical Journal the 
new State Institute for researches with Ront- 
gen rays, or ‘actinography’ (as the new term - 
runs) has been opened under the direction of 
Professor Grunmach. Itis close to the Charité 
Hospital and its clinical institutions, and has 
every convenience for the transport of severe 
cases. Needless to say, the Institute is fur- 
nished with all the newest appliances ; it con- 
tains a laboratory, a lecture theatre, photo- 
graphic rooms, and a room where the patients are 
examined according to the usual methods be- 
fore being subjected to the X-rays. In the first 
week after the opening of the new Institute, 
