fire from achievement to achievement, he made his own age preeminent over all the ages that have gone before for advances in the exact knowledge of the causation and prevention of infectious diseases. Rarely, if ever, have so many discoveries of such decisive importance to mankind emanated from the activities of one person; yet he served with all humility of mind. He simply tried to do his duty, being, as he said, fortunate to find sometimes the gold among the gravel of the road which is open to every one. When we consider the advancement medicine owes to Robert Koch and the endless and inestimable blessing which has come to mankind through his work and life, there comes an overpowering sense of admiration, reverence and gratitude."
SCIENTIFIC ITEMS
We record with regret the deaths of Dr. George Frederic Barker, emeritus professor of physics in the University of Pennsylvania; of General Cyrus Ballou Comstock, U. S. A. (retired), the eminent engineer; of Professor William P. Blake, known for his contributions to geology; of Professor Stanislau Cannizzaro, the distinguished Italian chemist, and of Lieutenant Boyd Alexander, the African explorer.
New York University has given its doctorate of laws to Dr. Henry Mitchell MacCracken, who retires from the chancellorship of the university.—Sir David Gill, K.C.B., F.R.S., has been appointed a knight of the Prussian Order of Merit.—Lord Rayleigh has been promoted from a corresponding to
