Ixxvili Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 
went at once in medical matters to the Royal Society for advice and 
assistance, as if it were the fountain of medical knowledge as well as 
‘scientific, simply represented the great reliance placed on Foster. 
All who knew him, especially those who worked with him at the Royal 
Society during these twenty-two years, felt how intensely Foster cared for 
and devoted himself to the welfare of the Society, inspiring all of those with 
whom he worked with a conception of the Society as a living active factor 
in the life of the nation, as well as the leading scientific club. 
He was a member of the Committee appointed by the Colonial Office to 
advise as to the best means of preventing malaria and other tropical diseases, 
and his services were recognised on his death by an official letter from the 
Colonial Office to Lady Foster. 
He was appointed by the Government to serve on various Royal Com- 
missions: that on vaccination in 1889, on the disposal of sewage in 1898, and 
on tuberculosis in 1901, of which latter he was Chairman. For these services 
and in recognition of his services to the cause of science he was created in 
1899 Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. 
Foster, who was a great reader of scientific papers in all languages, always 
impressed upon himself and others the maxim that the next best thing to 
knowing a thing is to know where to find it; and he felt strongly that 
unless steps were taken soon it would become very rapidly more and more 
impossible to know where to find it. He had already been one of the most 
active promoters of the Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers, and he 
threw himself heart and soul into the greater scheme of an International 
Catalogue of Scientific Papers. He was the soul of the whole thing: he 
got the money, he raised the enthusiasm, and by the Royal Society starting 
it and insisting that English is the proper language for it because bound 
to be the most nearly universal, a stride was made in the right direction and 
work done that would be more difficult and costly to do later than then. 
The undertaking is not yet certain of success but undoubtedly it is 
one of the utmost importance to the scientific men of all countries, and 
its very magnitude bears testimony to the boldness and persuasiveness of its 
author. 
Nor were his energies expended only in enterprises directly connected 
with science. He never forgot his close connection with University College 
and the University of London, and he was an active member of the 
Statutory Commission by which the University was reorganised, and teaching 
functions added to the examining powers which it previously exercised. 
Foster’s actual additions to our knowledge by way of research are small 
and not of great importance. He was a discoverer of men rather than of 
facts, of biologists rather than of facts and theories in biology. He was an 
impulsive man, he very rapidly decided and acted, especially quickly did he 
come to a conclusion about a man’s character and ability. The judgment of 
a man once thus rapidly formed he never seemed to relinquish. His 
judgment in the great majority of cases was curiously correct ; in some cases 
