Lord Iveagh (head of the Guinness business) has presented the
nation this week with half a million sterling. Half this money is promised to the Corporation of Dublin for the improvement of the most insanitary district of their city, the one nearest to St. Patrick's Cathedral, and half to the Jenner Institute to endow research in bacteriology and other forms of biology which may help to prevent disease. Though Lord Iveagh is one of the richest men in Europe, his porter. vatspouring out for him "wealth beyond the dreams of avarice," as Dr. Johnson thought Mr. Thrale's vats might do, this is a very noble gift. Money beyond a certain amount yields to its owner nothing for himself, but very rich men care about close relatives, and Lord Iveagh's gift would have founded a cadet branch of his house. The half which goes to Dublin can do nothing but good, and so will the Jenner half, if it is not wasted in making pro- fessors too comfortable. It is a most unpopular doctrine, but we have always an uneasy suspicion that to make in- vestigators toil they should be kept poor. Napoleon's Marshals admitted that after their piles were made they hated the thought of war.
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