sultations with his assistants and the most anxious deliberations, he consented to the inoculation of the boy. The next fortnight was a time of intense anxiety, but all went well. His second patient is commemorated by the bronze statue which ornaments the front of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. It represents the struggle between a peasant boy armed only with his sabot, and a mad dog; the boy was terribly bitten, but the treatment saved his life. It is not easy to arrive at an accurate estimate of the death-rate caused by rabies; but the most careful and moderate estimates show that, before this treatment was in use, some fifteen to twenty out of every hundred persons bitten by mad dogs died a most painful and horrible death. During the last fourteen years, over 23,000 persons known to have been bitten by rabid dogs have been inoculated at the Pasteur Institute; and their average mortality has been 0.4 per cent. In 1899, the latest year for which statistics are available, 1614 cases were treated, with a mortality of 0.25 per cent. Of these 1506 were French and 108 were foreigners. Of the 108 foreigners, 12 came from Great Britain and 62 from British India. It is little short of a national disgrace that we should still be dependent on French aid to succour those amongst us who are so unfortunate as to be bitten by a mad dog; but the nation which gave the use of anæsthetics to the world, and which first showed the value of antiseptics, is largely dependent to-day on foreign aid in dealing with great outbreaks of all sorts of diseases within its borders. The German Koch and the Russian Haffkine are called in to cope with the cholera in India; we fall back upon the Swiss Yersin and the Japanese Kitasato to elucidate the true nature of plague, and to devise methods for combating its ravages. When rinderpest breaks out in South Africa it is again to Koch that we turn. The unsatisfactory position of Great Britain in these matters is to some extent due to a small but active section of society whose affection for their lap-dogs has overpowered their sense of duty to their neighbours. It is, however, we fear, still more due to the unintelligent treatment of men of science by the Government of the country, and to the want of appreciation of the value of science shown by society at large. If, to balance the list given a few lines above, we recall the work of our country

1

man, Major Ross, on the malarial parasite, it serves only to remind us of the difficulties placed in the way of his research by the officials of the service to which he belonged and the slightness of the recognition which he has received from the Government.

6

In 1874 the French National Assembly voted Pasteur, as some recognition of his work on sericulture, a pension of 12,000 francs a year; nine years later this was increased to 25,000 francs, and it was further agreed that the pension should be continued to his wife and children. In 1881 he was nominated to represent France at the International Medical Congress which met that year in London. The reception accorded him when, with his host, Sir James Paget, he mounted the platform in St James's Hall, overwhelmed him. C'est sans doute le prince de Galles qui arrive,' he remarked to his host, never dreaming that such acclamations could be meant for him. The following year he succeeded to Littré's fauteuil at the Academy. In 1888 the President of the Republic opened the Pasteur Institute, which had been erected and endowed by a public subscription from all countries and from all classes; and there in 1892 he received a distinguished collection of scientific men, who had come from all parts of the world to congratulate him on his seventieth birthday.

Three years later his health began rapidly to fail. Two strokes of paralysis followed one another at a short interval, and on the 28th of September, 1895, he died. He lies buried in the Institute he loved so well. A nobler monument, or one more worthy of him who lies therein, has never been erected by man. The benefits which his simple, strenuous, hard-working, noble life conferred on humanity cannot be estimated. They help us, however, to realise the truth of the old Arabian proverb, 'The ink of science is more precious than the blood of the martyrs.'

M. Vallery-Radot has given what will probably prove to be the definitive Life of Pasteur. He has written at length and he has written well. That he is not a man of strict scientific training in no way detracts from the merit of the work; rather, in many respects, this makes the book more readable. The pupils of Pasteur, who are now carrying on his work, have, out of the abundance of their knowledge, helped in the more technical portions of the book; whilst M. Vallery-Radot, from his intimacy and relationship with

the subject of his biography, has been able to supply those personal details which form so essential and so interesting a part of every good biography.

For one who knew Pasteur only during the last decade of his life, to attempt any account of his character may savour of impertinence. Still it is impossible to close this article without some tribute to his simple dignity of manner, and above all to his infinite kindness. No man has done more to lessen suffering in this world, both in man and the lower animals; and probably but few have felt so much sympathy with suffering in others. As a boy --and French country boys are not more thoughtful about the suffering of animals than those of other races-he refused to go shooting. La vue d'une alouette blessée lui faisait mal.' As an old man, it was a touching sight to see him amongst the sufferers under treatment at the Institut Pasteur, patting the little children on the head, heartening up the timid and giving sous to the brave, infinitely tender to the frightened mothers. Another dominating trait in his character was his unflinching desire for truth; to 'prove all things' and to 'hold fast that which is good' was the motto of his working life. His success was in no small measure due to the rigorous tests he applied at all stages of his investigations; it was also due to the untiring assiduity with which he worked, never sparing himself, never in any way thinking of himself. But above all it was due to the intense thought he bestowed upon his researches. Concentrating his intellect upon the problem in question he thought out all possible solutions, and was prepared for all possible eventualities. It was this power of thought, coupled with a matchless gift of observation and experiment, that enabled him to leave a name which cannot be forgotten whilst civilisation endures.

ART. V.-NAVY BOILERS.

1. Water-Tube Boilers. By J. A. Normand. The Bedford Press, 1895.

London:

2. Marine Boilers: their Construction and Working. By L. E. Bertin, Chief Constructor of the French Navy. Translated and edited by L. G. Robertson. With Preface by Sir W. White. London: John Murray, 1898. 3. On the Boiler Arrangements of certain recent Cruisers. By F. T. Marshall. London: The Institution of Naval Architects, 1899.

4. Memorandum respecting Water-Tube Boilers in H.M.'s Ships. (Cd. 250.) London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1900. 5. Les Nouveaux Générateurs Belleville. By M. Godard. Paris: Imprimerie Chaix, 1900.

6. Interim Report of the Committee appointed... to consider... modern types of Boilers for naval purposes. (Cd. 503.) 1901.

OUR purpose in writing this article is to give a concise account of the problems which concern Navy boilers, with particular reference to the water-tube types. The subject is one of national importance, yet few outside professional circles have any clear knowledge of the subject. It is regarded as one which wholly concerns experts, who are also known to be divided in opinion concerning the choice of the most suitable boiler, or boilers, for the service of the British Navy. Hence a feeling of uneasiness has arisena fear that when the supreme hour of national trial arrives the Navy boilers may break down, and leave cruisers, battleships, torpedo-boats, and destroyers, at the mercy of a more alert foe.

The real truth cannot be gathered from conflicting statements made in Parliament and in the Press, for these are too often of an entirely irresponsible and hearsay character. The literature of water-tube boilers is in its infancy, and information about them is mostly scattered in the pages of technical journals. For this reason the treatise of M. L. E. Bertin, who is an expert of much experience, must remain the standard work for several years to come. It embodies substantially all the information which is available on this subject down to the present time. The original work was published in Paris in 1896.

It was at once cordially welcomed by the English technical press, partly because it was the only book in which watertube boilers were treated in an exhaustive manner, but chiefly on account of the author's extensive experience as Director of Naval Construction and head of the Technical Department in the French Navy. The information published was entirely practical, and much of it was new, while the opinions expressed were absolutely without bias. In the hands of Mr Robertson, who is not merely a translator, but also an engineer of wide experience, the work has been improved in some respects. The original text has been adhered to, except that certain sections, in which the ground was already covered by standard English works, have been abridged. But other sections of special importance have been extended and brought up to date; metric figures converted into English; and a full index added, so that for the English reader the translation is handier than the original. There is no water-tube boiler of importance which is not illustrated and described in its pages. The accounts given are, moreover, not merely descriptive, for the scientific facts which underlie the practical problems involved are clearly explained. In the preparation of this article we have also availed ourselves of data supplied by most of the leading firms of boilermakers, and of numerous technical articles in the engineering journals.

The boiler question has arisen in consequence of the enormous steam pressure at which modern engines have to be worked to propel battleships at high speeds. During a quarter of a century the pressures in steam boilers have been increased from 25 lb. per square inch to 250 lb. An incident easily recalled by those in middle life is the terrible explosion of the boilers of the Thunderer in 1876, by which forty men lost their lives and over seventy were injured. The working pressure on those boilers was only 30 lb. on the square inch. This fact indicates how radically the question has changed within a generation.

In offering a non-technical explanation of the difficulties which surround this problem, it is necessary to refer briefly to what has happened in the Navy in regard to the types which are either obsolete or rapidly becoming We know, apart from mathematical demonstration, that a plane surface is less adapted than any other to

so.