Apeil 13, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



599 



profession and to scientific work. For his re- 

 searches in physiological chemistry he was 

 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society at an early 

 age. He was also one of the first workers in 

 the field of laryngology. During his residence in 

 London he held the offices of assistant physician 

 to the Westminster Hospital and to the Bromp- 

 ton Hospital for Consumption. During the 

 latter part of his life Dr. Marcet devoted him- 

 self almost entirely to scientific work. His 

 ardent love of mountains and mountaineering 

 to a large extent determined the direction 

 of his later work. An inquiry into the in- 

 fluence of altitude on respiration, which he 

 carried out with characteristic vigor and thor- 

 oughness both on the high Alps and on the 

 peak of Teneriflfe, led the way to an extended 

 series of valuable 6bservations and experiments 

 on the phenomena of respiration in man. These 

 formed the subjects of several important contri- 

 butions to the Philosophical Transactions and 

 inspired his Croonian lectures delivered before 

 the College of Physicians in 1895. Dr. Marcet 

 was also a well known worker in the field of 

 meteorology and climatology and was the au- 

 thor of an excellent treatise on Southern and 

 Swiss health resorts. He was elected Presi- 

 dent of the Royal Meteorological Society in 

 1888. In 1865 Dr. Marcet was requested by the 

 members of the Royal Commission for the In- 

 vestigation of the Cattle Plague to undertake 

 to investigate the chemical pathology of the 

 disease, and his report on the subject appeared 

 as an appendix to the third report of this Com- 

 missioners. The late Sir Thomas Watson re- 

 marked of the report of this Commission " that 

 probably no disease either of man or of animals 

 has ever undergone such an investigation in all 

 its details as has the cattle plague." In 1859 

 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College 

 of Physicians, appointed examiner in chemistry 

 in 1867, and subsequently served the office of 

 councillor. 



The Council of the Royal Statistial Society, 

 as we learn from the London Times, are sending 

 out to various societies and councils a note on 

 the Census Bill, drawn up by a sub-committee 

 of the society, with a request that they will use 

 their influence to induce Parliament to include 

 in the Bill a provision for the taking of an inter- 



mediate census of a simple and comparatively 

 inexpensive character in the year 1906, so as to 

 afford to statisticians and others the benefits of 

 a quinquennial numbering of the people. It is 

 pointed out that, unless the Government can 

 be induced to make provision for it at the pres- 

 ent time, when the Bill for the decennial census 

 is before Parliament, no opportunity will occur 

 for another ten years. Regarding the Census 

 Bill generally, the sub-committee in their note 

 welcome the improvement in simplicity and ar- 

 rangement of the provisions. They state that 

 they made in all nine suggestions. Of these 

 one has not yet been brought before Parliament 

 another has been adopted in part only ; six 

 have found recognition ; and one only has been 

 ignored. The results are briefly as follows : — 

 (1) Uniformity has been secured in two of the 

 three kingdoms ; (2) in Clause 1 the date recom- 

 mended by the society has been adopted ; (3) in 

 Clause 4 (1) (a) the nationality of those born 

 abroad is to be recorded ; (4) in Clause 4 (3 

 and 4) the ' tenement ' is substituted for 

 the ' storey ' ; (5) in Clause 5 (1) the pre- 

 scription that schedules are to be copied 

 into books has been omitted, and in Clause 10 

 (1) (c) the matter is left to the registrars- gen- 

 eral ; (6) in Clause 5 (2) the record of houses 

 occupied, though not inhabited by night, is en- 

 sured ; and (7) the early introduction of the 

 Bill this Session allows probably fair, though 

 not abundant, time for preparations. The sub- 

 committee, however, are greatly disappointed 

 to note that the Bill contains no provision for 

 an intermediate census of the simple character 

 recommended not only by the Statistical So- 

 ciety, but by a very considerable weight of 

 opinion in the medical, actuarial and muni- 

 cipal world. The Statistical Society has not 

 recommended that the enumeration should be 

 on each occasion in the full detail of a decen- 

 nial census, which is the plan adopted abroad, 

 but that the population by sex and age will 

 suffice at the intermediate period. The pro- 

 ject, though supported by the Departmental 

 Committee of 1890, was rejected on the ground 

 of expense, but this consideration carries less 

 weight if it be held that the intermediate cen- 

 sus is a necessary supplement to that of the 

 decennial period, and that without it the latter 



