The precious gift it is my privilege now to offer to the hospital is but another reminder of him who, though absent in person, has been with us and in us and around us in spirit from the beginning of this gathering. What have been his contributions to medical science, what his inspiration and efforts and example have been to this institution, are so familiar to us all that it would be impudent to mention them. Would that we could put into words the influence that the man has had upon our lives! How much of that which is best in us is due to him and to his example! In all the fifteen years of my close and constant association with him I never knew him to do a hasty or an inconsiderate act, and I never heard him speak an unkind word of any man. Of how many can one say this? He is like Maeterlinck's true sage, in whose presence discord and strife and misunderstanding are impossible. In losing him we felt that we had lost our best friend and adviser, but he left us a legacy of tolerance and forbearance and charity that is among the richest of our possessions. This whole institution is replete with memories of the man; and no statue, no tablet, no portrait can bring him more vividly to our minds. But there will be others who follow after to whom our poor words will convey but a faint picture of that which is a part of us. And so his old disciples welcome with heartfelt gratitude every new image which may help better to fix for posterity the presence of our dear chief. The value of this new possession is greatly enhanced in that it comes to us through the thoughtful generosity of her who shares with him our lasting love and affection. Lady Osier, of her own initiative, has induced Mr. Sargent to make this replica of the portrait drawn by him for the College of Physicians in Philadelphia, and has sent it to us to-day. And so after all he is with us! We shall gain new inspiration from his counterfeit presence. Let us wait patiently in the hope that, four years hence, when the heavy clouds of the hour shall have rolled away, we may give him that welcome which our hearts hold for him to-day.
SCIENTIFIC ITEMS
We record with regret the deaths of Samuel Benedict Christy, professor of mining and metallurgy in the University of California; of Charles Martin Hall, the American eleetrochemist; of Professor N. C. Dunér, the Swedish astronomer; of Dr. Charles Périer, one of the most distinguished surgeons in France, and Dr. A. Van Geuchten, professor of anatomy and neuro-pathology at Louvain University.
Signor Guglielmo Marconi has been appointed a member of the Italian senate by King Victor Emmanuel.—It is one of the privileges of the Spanish Academia de Medicina that it is entitled to a seat in the senate. The member of the academy recently elected senator in this way is Dr. B. G. Alvarez, one of the editors of the Pediatria Español.—The gold medal of the Geographical Society of Chicago has been awarded to Colonel George W. Goethals. It will be presented to him at a dinner to be given by the society on January 23.
Several large bequests are reported I this month for educational and public purposes. Dr. Charles M. Hall, known for his work on aluminum, bequeaths $3,000,000 to Oberlin College; Miss Grace Dodge, who during her lifetime was active in educational and charitable work, leaves $500,000 to Teachers College, Columbia University, $700,000 to Young Women's Christian Associations and other public bequests. Large bequests for public purposes are made by the will of Mrs. Mary Anna Palmer Draper, to whom in her lifetime science was greatly indebted for intelligent and generous support, including $150,000 to the Harvard College Observatory and $450,000 to the New York Public Library.
