Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/316

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312
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

health. There were on the program the titles of some 600 papers and some hundred formal discussions distributed among 23 sections. Among the great number of subjects included in the program there may be mentioned almost at random a discussion on tropical sanitation by Sir Ronald Ross, who advocated a separate department of state to deal with the health of the community; an account by Surgeon General Sir David Bruce of his investigation of sleeping sickness in Nyassa Land, where he found half of the wild animals to be infected; Dr. Van Logham, of Amsterdam, foretold the spread of yellow fever to Asia and Australasia through the opening of the Panama Canal; Dr. Ehrlich explained the mechanics of his laboratory, through which he had obtained his 606 different combinations, of which the last had become so important; Dr. S. Kitasato, of Japan, presented a report on the plague, and Dr. Shirayama on the cause of beri beri; Dr. George W. Crile, of Cleveland, spoke on the surgical effects of shock; Dr. Clarence M. Blake, of Boston, on climatic and occupational influences in diseases of the ear; Dr. K. F. Wenkelbach, of Strassburg, on the pathology of heart failure. Sir Thomas Barlow, the president of the congress, made an address at the general session and other English representatives made addresses before the sections over which they presided. Sir E. A. Schafer made the address on physiology; Sir Anderson Crichett, on ophthalmology; Sir Malcolm Morris, on dermatology; Sir J. Mackenzie Davidson, on radiology; Sir Lauder Brunton, on therapeutics, and Sir David Ferrier, on neuropathology.

There were three prizes awarded by the congress, one established at Moscow was given to Professor Ch. Richet for his work on anaphylaxis; the prize established at the meeting in Hungary, to Professor Wright for his work in the same subject, and the Paris prize to Professor A. von Wassermann, the newly appointed head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Experimental Therapy, for his work on immunity.

The congress passed a resolution to the effect that "It is our conviction that experiments on living animals have proved of the utmost service to medicine in the past and are indispensable to its future progress." The seven thousand members were entertained at dinners, garden parties and other functions in the manner which is only possible in the well-organized system of English society. The meeting of 1917 will be in Munich. Four years later it might well be in the United States.

SCIENTIFIC ITEMS

We record with regret the death of Professor John Milne, distinguished for his work in seismology, and Dr. Robert von Lenderfeld, professor of zoology in Prague.

M. Pierre Boutroux has accepted a professorship of mathematics at Princeton University, and will assume his duties in the autumn. M. Boutroux is a son of the distinguished professor of philosophy, M. Emile Boutroux, and is closely related to the Poincaré family.—Dr. J. S. Kingsley, professor of zoology in Tufts College since 1892, has accepted a chair of zoology in the University of Illinois.

The Kelvin memorial window in Westminster Abbey was dedicated on July 15. The dean of Westminster made the address and the ceremonies were attended by many distinguished scientific men. The window, which was designed by Mr. J. N. Comper, is in the east bay of the nave on the north side. The light from it falls upon the graves of Kelvin and Isaac Newton, and immediately beneath it are the graves of Darwin and Herschel.